DEVIL
Sayfullo Saipov, seen in mug shot after arrest for killing eight people on downtown bike lane, is “very happy with what he did,” source told Daily News on Wednesday.
A TRUCK-DRIVING TERRORIST who carved a 14-block trail of death in lower Manhattan wanted to celebrate his long-planned attack by hanging an ISIS flag in his hospital room, authorities said Wednesday.
Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was rejoicing at Bellevue Hospital over the deaths of eight innocents even though his plot to mow down civilians all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge was cut short.
“He’s talking. He’s laughing. He’s very happy with what he did,” a source told the Daily News. “He feels accomplished.”
A second source said Saipov, in his interviews with investigators, showed “no remorse” and was “glad that he did what he set out to do.”
Court papers filed late Wednesday paint a portrait of a man deeply committed to sowing death and destruction after falling under ISIS’ treacherous spell more than a year ago.
The father of three from New Jersey began planning the attack about 12 months ago after watching a video of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calling for retaliation over the killing of Muslims in Iraq.
Saipov settled on using a truck to inflict maximum carnage, apparently following the instructions laid out in a ISIS online article titled “Just Terror Tactics.”
An Uber and Lyft driver, Saipov made sure he could operate a truck. The Uzbek national rented one from a Home Depot in Passaic, N.J., on Oct. 22, so that he could practice making turns in advance of the attack, court papers show.
And Saipov chose Halloween as the day of the assault because he believed there would be more civilians packing city streets.
“Saipov wanted to kill as many as he could,” the criminal complaint says.
To psych himself up for the attack, Saipov watched about 90 ISIS videos showing militants beheading prisoners, shooting them in the face and running one man over with a tank.
Saipov was so committed to the cause he even considered adorning his rented Home Depot truck with ISIS flags. He told investigators that he ultimately decided against it to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Saipov put the final steps of his murderous plans into motion Tuesday, renting a truck from the Passaic Home Depot about 2:06 p.m. He paid to have the vehicle “for a period of two hours but had no intention of ever returning it,” the complaint says.
Saipov drove into the city via the George Washington Bridge at 2:43 p.m. before heading south on the WestSide Highway.
At 3:04 p.m., Saipov drove the flatbed truck onto the bike path along the Hudson River near Houston St. and sped south — targeting and crushing the pedestrians and cyclists in his path.
After he slammed his truck into a school bus near Chambers St., Saipov emerged from the crippled vehicle brandishing a pellet gun and a paintball gun and hollering, “Allahu akbar,” which means “God is
great!” in Arabic.
The milelong attack ended when NYPD Officer Ryan Nash, 28, pumped a bullet into the suspect’s abdomen. In addition to killing eight people, Saipov injured 13 others.
“Yesterday afternoon, a man consumed by hate and a twisted ideology attacked our country and our city,” said Acting Manhattan U.S.Attorney Joon Kim.
Investigators found a stun gun in his truck and a bag of knives he was unable to reach after the crash, the complaint says.
He had two cell phones filled with ISIS propaganda videos. Near the damaged truck, investigators found a handwritten note with a message in Arabic that read, “No God but God and Muhammad is his prophet” and “Islamic supplication. It will endure.”
Saipov was arraigned Wednesday night on charges of providing material support to a terrorist group, as well as violence and destruction of motor vehicles.
A weak-looking Saipov was pushed into Manhattan Federal Court in a wheelchair, his hands cuffed and his feet in shackles.
Saipov was ordered jailed after a brief hearing that he followed through a Russian interpreter.
“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,” his lawyer David Patton said outside the courthouse.
Saipov arrived in the U.S. from his native Uzbekistan in March 2010, authorities said. He first lived in Ohio before moving to Floridaand then to New Jersey.
Saipov was never the subject of an FBI or NYPD invess tigation, said John Miller, the NYPD’s counterterrorism chief. But Saipov was reportt edly on the radar of some in federal law enforcement.
He was interviewed by fedderal agents in 2015 in connecction with a probe of terror susspects who overstayed their ir tourist visas, ABC News reeported. The suspect was listed d as a “point of contact” for two o men whose names appeared d on a Homeland Security Deepartment counterterrorism database.
Miller said investigators were in the early stages of digging into Saipov’s past and terror links.
“What we are looking for is, how has he touched the subjects of other investigations,” Miller said. “It appears he will have some connectivity to individuals who were the subjects of investigations though he himself was not.”
Sources said E-ZPass records revealed that Saipov drove into the city recently via the Holland Tunnel and George Washington Bridge in what investigators believe were reconnaissance trips.
Saipov spoke via cell phone to people in Florida and New Jersey in the hours before the attack. But investigators were still trying to determine if the calls had anything to do with his sinister plans, sources said.
The suspect lived in an a apartment in Paterson, N.J., with his wife, two young daughters and infant son, n neighbors said.
Saipov was known as a genial family man who largely kept to himself. “He always seemed pleasant every time I seen him, nothing out of the ordinary that would be shocking,” said a 32-year-old neighbor who identified himself as Keith.
While living in Ohio, Saipov went from easygoing and clean-cut to bearded and angry, an acquaintance said.
“I always thought deep in my soul that he
All schools in the area, which had been on lockdown, lifted their shelter-in-place order.
Authorities revealed Saipov asked investigators to display an ISIS flag in his hospital room and said he felt good about what he’d done. Officials said a search of his cell phone showed he watched about 90 ISIS-related videos, including footage of ISIS fighters beheading people and terrorists killing a prisoner by running him over with a tank. would be jailed for beating someone or insulting someone,” Mirrakhmat Muminov, who befriended Saipov in Stow, Ohio, told TheNewYork Times.
Muminov described him as someone “with monsters inside.”
A preacher at a mosque in Tampa said Saipov, who struggled to find work as a truck driver, displayed signs of radicalization and was prone to bursts of fury.
“He had a character problem,” the preacher, identified only as Abdula, told TheTimes.
Saipov married his wife, an Uzbek named Nozima Odilova, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in March 2013. At the time, he was 25 and she was19, accordingto CNN.
Saipov’s wife was cooperating with authorities and has denied having prior knowledge of the attack. But investigators have yet to rule that out, sources said.
His mother-in-law, Nodira Agzomova, said she was stunned by Saipov’s crime.
“I’m in shock . . . can’t believe it,” Agzomova told CNN in the lobby of her Brooklyn building. 5:30 p.m.: Wednesday: