Prosecutors charge accused NY bike path attacker with aiding ISIS

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged the man accused of driving a truck onto a crowded bike path in New York this week with providing material support to ISIS.

Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference that 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov also faces a federal charge of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle with willful disregard for human life, which is punishable by the death penalty.

Saipov allegedly killed eight people and injured 11 others when he barreled a rented Home Depot truck across a bicycle path in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

He then exited his vehicle brandishing a pellet gun and a paintball gun before police shot him in the abdomen and took him into custody. Law enforcement officials found a handwritten note at the scene of the incident professing allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

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Officials declared the attack an act of terrorism shortly after it happened. Law enforcement officials said earlier Wednesday that Saipov plotted the truck attack for two months, and that he appeared to have acted “in the name of ISIS.”

Kim said Saipov was inspired to carry out the attack from online videos posted by ISIS.

“For the same reason that millions visit this city and find it so special, alleged terrorists like Saipov view the city as a prime target for their hate-filled crimes,” Kim said. “The thing is, for the alleged terrorists like Saipov, they will find in New York City something else: Justice.”

The accused attacker also appeared to follow guidance published online by ISIS “almost exactly to a T,” John Miller, the New York City Police Department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said at a news conference.

The FBI had said earlier in the day that it was seeking a second Uzbek national whom law enforcement officials believed had information on the attack. William Sweeny, the assistant director in charge at the FBI’s New York field office, said later, however, that the bureau was no longer seeking that individual.

Earlier Wednesday, GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) called for Saipov to be treated as an enemy combatant and held in military custody.

President Trump, who has called for changes to immigration policy following the incident, said he is considering sending the suspect to the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Saipov, who is originally from Uzbekistan and has permanent resident status in the U.S., is currently in the hospital after being shot by police. 

Proceedings are scheduled in federal court for Friday, though it’s unclear if he will attend in person.

—Updated at 6:15 p.m.