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At Least 8 Killed as Truck Careens Down Bike Path in Manhattan 8 Dead as Truck Careens Down Bike Path in Manhattan in Terror Attack
(about 1 hour later)
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 a police officer, the authorities said. A 29-year-old man plowed a pickup truck down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring 11 before being shot by a police officer in what officials are calling the deadliest terrorist attack on New York City since Sept. 11.
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.” The rampage ended when the driver — whom the police identified as Sayfullo Saipov — smashed into a school bus, jumped out of his truck and ran up and down the highway waving a pellet gun and paintball gun and shouting “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” before he was shot in the abdomen by the officer. He remained in critical condition on Tuesday evening.
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.” Mayor Bill de Blasio declared the incident a terrorist attack and federal law enforcement authorities were taking the lead in the investigation. Two law enforcement officials said that investigators discovered handwritten notes in Arabic near the truck that indicated allegiance to ISIS.
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. Mr. 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.”
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 11 people were injured, but officials were still working to assess the extent of the casualties. Mr. Saipov came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010, and had a green card that allowed permanent legal residence. He had apparently lived in Paterson, N.J., and Tampa, Fla. An official said he rented the truck from Home Depot in New Jersey.
“He jumped out of the truck with a pellet gun, yelled, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and the First Precinct lit him up,” a law enforcement official said, referring to a police officer who had been on post nearby and whom the authorities credited with saving lives. The attack unfolded as nearby schools, including Stuyvesant High School, were letting out on a crisp Halloween afternoon. It ended five blocks north of the World Trade Center. The driver left a roughly mile-long crime scene: a tree-lined bike path strewn with bodies, mangled bicycles and bicycle parts, from wheels twisted like pretzels to a dislodged seat.
Witnesses described gunshots ringing out, people scrambling for cover and a street strewn with bodies and crumpled bicycles. Mr. Saipov, a slim, bearded man, was seen in videos running through traffic after the attack with a paintball gun in one hand and a pellet gun in the other. The authorities credited the officer who shot him with saving lives. Six people died at the scene and two others died at a hospital, officials said.
The driver was being treated at a nearby hospital. He had crashed the truck into a school bus. It was unclear if anyone was on the bus. The police said they were not looking for additional suspects. Coming five months after a car rammed into people in Times Square, killing one, Tuesday’s attack again highlighted the risk to pedestrians from a car attack on busy city streets. The Times Square incident was not a terrorist attack. But both incidents brought to mind the terrorist attack last year in Nice, France, in which a cargo truck killed scores of people celebrating Bastille Day.
A large section of the West Side Highway was closed for the investigation as hundreds of officers, including the bomb squad, responded to the scene. The truck came to a rest near Chambers Street, facing eastbound. The episodes also evoked calls from terrorist magazines, including in a recent edition of Rumiyah, a magazine used by ISIS, for attackers to mow down pedestrians with trucks, continue the attacks with a knife or a gun and claim credit by shouting or leaving leaflets.
Students at Stuyvesant High School reported that they saw a man shooting from a pickup truck, and then saw the truck turn and strike a school bus. Sirus Minovi, 14, a freshman at Stuyvesant, was hanging out with friends at the corner of Chambers and West Streets when the truck crashed.
Ramon Cruz, 27, said the driver appeared injured. Then Mr. Cruz said he heard someone yell, “He’s got a gun, run, run!” “We heard people screaming, ‘gun’ ‘shooter’ and ‘run away,’” Mr. Minovi said. “We thought it was a Halloween prank.”
Several nearby buildings, including Stuyvesant, were placed on lockdown. He said he realized it was not a joke when he saw the man staggering through the intersection, screaming words he could not make out. A passer-by approached the attacker, apparently trying to calm him, Mr. Minovi said, until the man realized the attacker had a gun and backed away with his hands up.
Emily, 12, a seventh-grader at I.S. 289 who declined to give her last name, had been walking on her usual route home just after 3 p.m. when other students ran toward her.
“All the kids were screaming, ‘Run!’, ‘Gun!’ ‘Run inside,’” she said, still wearing cat ears for her Halloween costume. She said mothers pushing strollers and children in costumes ran in a herd back toward the school.
President Trump responded to the attack on Twitter: “In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”
Mr. Saipov wove a deadly path on a stretch usually bustling with commuters, runners and cyclists, drawn by the downtown offices nearby or the shimmering Hudson River.
He turned onto the bike path alongside the West Side Highway at Houston Street just after 3 p.m. and drove south, striking numerous pedestrians and cyclists, many of them in the back, the authorities said. People scattered and dove to the asphalt.
The truck, labeled with a sign saying, “Rent me starting at $19,” rammed into the bus near Chambers Street. The bus serves two schools in Lower Manhattan and transports students with special needs. Two adults and two children on the bus were injured, the authorities said.
Mr. Saipov jumped out of the truck before a uniformed officer assigned to the city’s First Precinct shot him, Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said. The police said they were not looking for additional suspects.
Officials said 11 people were taken to nearby hospitals with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.
A large section of the West Side Highway was closed for the investigation as hundreds of officers, including the bomb squad, responded to the scene. Several nearby buildings, including Stuyvesant, were placed on lockdown.