Trump calls for death penalty for NYC terror attack suspect
Motivated by IS, Saipov made plot one year ago
US President Donald Trump said the Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people when he drove a truck down a New York City bike path should get the death penalty.
The suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, told investigators he was inspired by watching Islamic State ( IS) videos and began planning Tuesday’s attack a year ago, according to a criminal complaint filed against him on Wednesday.
Saipov, 29, also said “he felt good about what he had done” and asked for permission to display the fl ag of IS in his hospital room, the complaint said.
“NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang IS fl ag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!” Trump tweeted late on Wednesday.
Saipov faces two charges, one of which carries the death penalty if the government chooses to seek it, Manhattan acting US Attorney Joon Kim said.
The charges are one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles causing the deaths of eight people and one count of providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization – Islamic State.
The maximum penalty for the first is death; the maximum for the second life in prison, Kim said.
The charging document said Saipov waived his rights to remain silent, avoid self- incrimination and have an attorney present when he agreed to speak to investigators from his bed at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, where he was being treated after being shot by a police offi cer.
It said he was particularly motivated by a video where Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi – the leader of Islamic State – exhorted Muslims in the US and elsewhere to support the group’s cause.
Investigators found thousands of IS- related propaganda images and videos on Saipov’s cellphone, the complaint said. Among them were video clips showing ISIS prisoners being beheaded, run over by a tank and shot in the face.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had located another Uzbek man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, wanted for questioning as a person of interest in the attack.