Sylvie Claire / January 3, 2023
A 19-year-old American man who attacked police officers with a machete on New Year's Eve in Manhattan was charged Monday with "attempted murder of an officer," the New York Police Department announced.
Trevor Bickford is accused of attacking three officers just outside the Times Square security area, where thousands of New Yorkers gather on New Year's Eve.
He struck two officers on the head, without endangering their lives, before being immobilized by another police officer who used his service weapon, wounding him in the shoulder.
The young man is originally from Wells, a small town in Maine (northeast), according to the NYPD, which did not provide further details at this stage.
According to the American media, he has recently shown signs of Islamic radicalization and is suspected of having wanted to commit a suicide attack.
According to anonymous sources quoted by CNN, he was carrying a diary in which he had expressed his desire to join the Afghan Taliban and die as a martyr.
The New York Times said he had written a farewell letter to his mother in the diary.
The federal police had questioned him in mid-December after being informed by one of his relatives of jihadist statements and monitored his activities on the Internet, agents told NBC on condition of anonymity.
The FBI's counterterrorism unit is involved in the investigation, confirmed Keechant Sewell, head of the New York Police Department, at a press conference on Sunday, without saying more.