NEW YORK CITY — The 19-year-old accused of attacking three police officers near Times Square as people gathered to ring in the new year on Saturday has been charged with attempted murder, police said.
In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, police said Trevor Bickford was also charged Monday with attempted assault. Earlier, officials said Bickford was hospitalized after being shot in the shoulder by an officer during Saturday night’s confrontation.
Authorities said that about two hours before the ball dropped in Times Square, Bickford attempted to hit an officer over the head with a machete. He then hit two other officers in the head, cutting both and fracturing one officer’s skull, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
The injured officers were expected to recover.
Officials did not say what prompted the attack, although authorities emphasized early Sunday that Bickford was believed to have acted alone.
An unidentified law enforcement official told the AP that investigators were looking into whether Bickford was inspired by radical Islamic extremism. An official told the New York Times that authorities had found a diary on Bickford in which he had written a farewell letter to his family.
“I fear greatly you will not repent to Allah and therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out of the hellfire,” he wrote to his mother, according to the Times. The newspaper reported that he had converted to Islam sometime in the last year and a half and that he had planned to go overseas to fight for persecuted Muslims.
Authorities with the FBI interviewed Bickford in his native Maine last month after learning of his plans, unidentified sources told CNN. His name was added to a terrorist watch list, though his decision to travel to New York via Amtrak kept his name from triggering any alarms, according to CNN.
An official told the Times that Bickford could be charged with terrorism offenses.
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