The radicalized Islamist who allegedly attacked NYPD officers with a machete on New Year’s Eve wrote a threatening manifesto that ordered his family to “repent to Allah and accept Islam,” according to the New York Post.
The suspect, 19-year-old Trevor Bickford, who arrived in New York City days before the incident from Maine, had the handwritten letter in his backpack along with Islamic literature and $200 in cash, police sources told the news outlet.
“To my family – specifically, mother – I’m sorry for not having been a good enough son,” said the manifesto. “I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah. And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out to the hellfire.”
It continued: “To [my brother] Travis. Of anyone I’ve known who I have felt is closest to faith – it’s you. Of anyone I’ve ever wanted to accept Islam with me – it’s you. Please repent to Allah and accept Islam. I fear for you.”
The manifesto allegedly went on to threaten Bickford’s older brother who is a Marine. He wrote: “To Devon, there was a time when we were close, but that time has passed. You have joined the ranks of my enemy. And for that I can give you no kind words – return to Allah.”
Three officers assigned to New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square area were injured by the machete-wielding teenager who expressed militant support for Islam, law enforcement officials said on Sunday, according to NBC News.
The attack happened shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, just outside checkpoints for the high-security zone set up for celebrants, officials said at a news conference early Sunday.
The suspect allegedly approached an officer and tried to strike him over the head with the machete, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. He then struck two officers in the head with the blade before he was shot in the shoulder and apprehended by police, Sewell said.
Authorities identified the suspect at the news conference only as a 19-year-old man. Four senior law enforcement officials said the man is Trevor Bickford of Wells, Maine.
The suspect was known to federal agents, who interviewed him in mid-December after a relative alerted them to his revolutionary support for Islam, four law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
The man, who made pro-jihadist statements from his hospital bed overnight, is believed to have traveled from Wells to lower Manhattan on Thursday mainly via Amtrak, the sources said.