Suspect in Times Square attack on New Year’s Eve arrested

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The 19-year-old suspect accused of attacking New York police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

The arrest comes two days after the accused allegedly attacked police officers at a security screening area outside Times Square, the center of the city’s famed New Year’s Eve celebrations. NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and police said that just after 10 p.m. he went to the Times Square checkpoint at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue where officers check bags for weapons or suspicious items. At the security area, the accused allegedly pulled out a machete, struck one officer with the blade and another officer in the head with the handle, and then swung the blade at a third officer, who shot the accused in the shoulder

The Police are recommending the suspect, Trevor Bickford, be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault in the attack

Bickford was on the FBI’s radar even before the Times Square attack. He was interviewed by FBI agents in Maine in mid-December after he said he wanted to travel overseas to help fellow Muslims and was willing to die for his religion.

According to law enforcement sources, Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those travels would not have tripped any watch list databases.