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UPDATE: ‘This Was an Act of Terror,’ NYC Mayor Says; 8 People Killed in Attack

Posted on | October 31, 2017 | Comments Off on UPDATE: ‘This Was an Act of Terror,’ NYC Mayor Says; 8 People Killed in Attack

 

 

Details are still sketchy, and early reports of such incidents are often wrong, but it is now being reported that a man used a rental truck to run over pedestrians and bicyclists in New York City. The driver was reportedly shot and wounded by NYPD and taken into custody. Six people are reported dead. Fox News says they have been told by law-enforcement officials that this is being treated as a terrorist attack.

UPDATE 5:15 p.m. ET: New York Daily News:

At least six people were killed Tuesday afternoon when a speeding Home Depot truck plowed along a Lower Manhattan bike path, running down helpless riders from behind, sources said.
Eyewitnesses told police the driver yelled “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — after leaving the mangled bodies scattered behind his rental truck.
The Middle Eastern man was arrested after police shot him in the rear end. Sources said he was waving a pair of guns when cops reached the scene.
The truck jumped the curb near Houston St. at 3:04 p.m. and began bearing down on the unsuspecting bicyclists, sources told the Daily News. Video showed crumpled two-wheelers and four bodies left in the vehicle’s deadly wake.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m. ET: In a press conference, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio says, “This was an act of terror.” He reports at least 8 dead and “more than a dozen” injured.

UPDATE 5:35 p.m. ET: The driver of the truck was a 29-year-old male, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said at the press conference. The suspect is in custody; his identity is not being released yet, pending further investigation.

UPDATE 6:05 p.m. ET: The suspect is an immigrant, and has been described as “of Middle Eastern descent.” The New York Times:

Eight people were killed when a man drove 20 blocks down a bike path beside the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon before he crashed his pickup truck, jumped out with fake guns and was shot by police officer, the authorities said.
Federal authorities were treating the incident as a terrorist attack and were taking the lead in the investigation, a senior law enforcement official said. Two law enforcement officials said that after the attacker got out of the truck, he was heard yelling, “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference: “Based on information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians.”
Two law enforcement officials said the driver of the truck, a 29-year-old man who came to the United States in 2010, was in grave condition. One official said he had rented the truck in New Jersey.
The motorist, driving south down the path in a Home Depot rental truck, hit numerous people as nearby Stuyvesant High School was letting out for the day, officials said. At least 15 people were injured, but officials were still working to assess the extent of the casualties.

 

Category: New York, Terrorism

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