Prosecutors say driver planned attack for a year
Sayfullo Saipov brought to court to face charges; he followed ISIS’ pattern
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors brought terrorism charges Wednesday against the Uzbek immigrant accused in the truck rampage that left eight people dead, saying he was spurred to attack by the Islamic State group’s online calls to action and picked Halloween because he knew more people would be out on the streets.
Even as he lay wounded in the hospital from police gunfire, Sayfullo Saipov asked to display the Islamic State group’s flag in his room and said “he felt good about what he had done,” prosecutors said in court papers. Saipov was brought to court in a wheelchair to face the charges, which could bring the death penalty.
Meanwhile, the FBI said it wanted to question a second person from Uzbekistan — 32-year-old Mukhammadzoir Kadirov — and had found him. A law enforcement official said Kadirov may not have a role in the case, but investigators became suspicious when they couldn’t find him, because he was one of Saipov’s few friends. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Saipov’s court-appointed lawyer, David Patton, said Saipov was in “a significant amount of pain” and asked that he get wound care and a wheelchair or crutches in the federal lockup where he’s being held without bail.
Outside of court, Patton called for fair treatment of his client. “I hope, given all of the attention in this case and all of the attention that it’s sure to continue to receive, that everyone lets the judicial process play out,” he said. “I promise you
that how we treat Mr. Saipov in this judicial process will say a lot more about us than it will say about him.”
Saipov, accused of driving the rented Home Depot pickup truck that barreled down a bike path near the World Trade Center memorial on Tuesday, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist group and committing violence and destruction of motor vehicles, resulting in death.
Prosecutors said he had 90 videos and 3,800 photos on one of his two cellphones, many of them ISIS-related pieces of propaganda. Saipov left behind knives and a note, in Arabic and English, that included Islamic religious references and said, “Islamic Supplication. It will endure,” FBI agent Amber Tyree said in court papers. “It will endure” commonly refers to ISIS, Tyree said.
Questioned in his hospital bed, Saipov said he had been inspired by ISIS videos that he watched on his cellphone and began plotting an attack about a year ago, deciding to use a truck about two months ago, Tyree said. During the last few weeks, Saipov searched the internet for information on Halloween in New York City and for truck rentals, the agent said. Saipov even rented a truck on Oct. 22 to practice making turns, and he initially hoped to get from the bike path across lower Manhattan to hit more pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge, Tyree said.
John Miller, deputy New York police commissioner for intelligence, said Saipov “appears to have followed, almost exactly to a T, the instructions that ISIS has put out.” A November 2016 issue of Rumiyah, the group’s online magazine, detailed features that an attack truck or van should have, suggested renting such a vehicle, and recommended targeting crowded streets and outdoor gatherings, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a militant-monitoring agency.
The New York City Police Department has been on alert for years about the possible use of trucks in terrorist attacks. At a news conference Tuesday night, John Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said the department had conducted “extensive outreach” to truck rental companies. Miller said the Police Department visited over 148 truck rental locations, including some Home Depots, advising them of suspicious indicators and ways to come forward with information.
Miller said officials also conducted outreach after the attacks in Berlin and Nice, France, in 2016. “The industry has had a high level of awareness on this matter,” he said.
It was not clear whether Saipov had been on authorities’ radar. Miller said Saipov had never been the subject of a criminal investigation but appears to have links to people who have been investigated.
In Tuesday’s attack, Saipov drove his speeding truck for nearly a mile along a bike path, running down cyclists and pedestrians, then crashed into a school bus, authorities said. He was shot in the abdomen after he jumped out of the vehicle brandishing two air guns, one in each hand, and yelling “God is great!” in Arabic, they said.
The attack killed five people from Argentina, one from Belgium and two Americans, authorities said. Another 12 people were injured; nine remained hospitalized in serious or critical condition.
City leaders vowed New York would not be intimidated and said Sunday’s New York City Marathon, with 50,000 participants and some 2 million spectators anticipated, will go on as scheduled, with increased security.
Saipov, a legal, permanent U.S. resident, lived in Ohio and Florida before moving to New Jersey around June, authorities said.