3 police officers near Times Square injured in machete attack on New Year’s Eve, says officials

“All three of the officers are in stable conditions,” Mayor Eric Adams said.

New York: An “unprovoked” machete attack on three New York City police officers near Times Square on New Year’s Eve is being investigated as a possible terrorist incident.

The suspect is allegedly a 19-yearold man from Maine, whose online posts indicate recent Islamic radicalization, sources told ABC News. Investigators are looking into whether the suspect came to the annual ball drop specifically to wage an attack on law enforcement, the sources said.

The incident occurred just after 10 p.m. on Saturday near West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, outside the secure area that had been set up for New Year’s Eve celebrations, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters at a news conference at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital. “Unprovoked, a 19-year-old male approached an officer and attempted to strike him over the head with a machete,” Sewell said. “The male then struck two additional officers in the head with the machete.”

One of the officers fired their weapon, striking the suspect in the shoulder, Sewell said. The suspect was taken into custody, she said. The three injured officers were taken to Bellevue, Sewell said. All three officers were released from the hospital on Sunday.

Suspect relatives reported concerns

While a motive remains under investigation, authorities are not ruling out the possibility that the suspect came to New York City specifically to attack police officers at the Times Square ball drop, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Multiple law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Trevor

Bickford, 19, of Wells, Maine. He took an Amtrak train to New York City on Dec. 29, the sources said.

Federal and local law enforcement investigators are combing through the suspect’s online postings, which indicate recent extremist Islamic radicalization, the sources said.

Bickford has no prior arrests. His

mother and aunt notified law enforcement in recent weeks about their concerns he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies, the sources said.

The report prompted the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the suspect, the law enforcement sources said.

Photo: ABC News A police officer walks after the first public New Year’s event since the COVID-19 pandemic, at Times Square, in New York on January 1, 2023.