NYC Attacker Was on FBI Watchlist

Trevor Bickford, a 19-year-old man from Maine, is being held in connection with a machete attack on three New York City police officers on New Year’s Eve.

Investigators are exploring the possibility that Bickford was motivated by radical Islamic extremism, according to an anonymous law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press.

According to CNN, Bickford had previously been interviewed by FBI agents and placed on the agency’s terrorist watch list after his family reported him to the Wells, Maine police department in December, stating that he had expressed a desire to join the Taliban.

On Saturday night, Bickford reportedly approached an officer unprovoked and attempted to strike him with the machete.

He then struck two other officers before being shot in the shoulder by one of them.

The three injured officers were treated and released from the hospital the following day.

Bickford has not yet been charged in the attack, which is being investigated as a possible terrorist incident.

Law enforcement sources also revealed to CNN that Bickford’s diary was found to contain a last will and testament, including instructions for his burial.

Sources told The New York Post that Bickford traveled on an Amtrak train to NYC with “camping gear, a diary and a last will and testament” before the attack.

“Published reports reveal that Bickford appeared to be a typical American teenager before he allegedly became radicalized in the years after sources said his father died of an overdose in 2018,” according to The Post.

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