Jan. 4, 2023 “I wanted to kill an officer in uniform,” said the radicalized 19-year-old who is accused of attacking two NYPD officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, according to court documents.
By Molly Crane-Newman and Larry McShane Source New York Daily News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The recently radicalized Maine teen busted for a Times Square attack on New Year’s Eve was held without bail Wednesday as authorities detailed his chilling confession to the shocking attack.
“I wanted to kill an officer in uniform,” said suspect Trevor Bickford, according to court documents. “I saw the officer and waited until he was alone. I said, ‘Allahu Akbar.’ I walked up and hit him over the head with a (machete). I charged another officer but dropped the knife.
“And I tried to get the police officer’s gun but couldn’t.”
Assistant District Attorney Lucy Nicholas described the defendant as a flight risk “who specifically traveled to New York from Maine in order to begin carrying out his crimes of murder of government officials.” The defendant faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted on the charges of attempted murder, two counts of assault and attempted assault, she added.
Bickford remained in Bellevue Hospital for the arraignment less than a week after the 19-year-old traveled from his sleepy Maine hometown to Manhattan by train before attacking two police officers with a machete as nearby Times Square filled with New Year’s Eve revelers to ring in 2023.
“Defendant admitted that he purposely waited until he saw a moment when the officer was isolated and not near any civilians when he could attack him,” said Nicholas. “Defendant also stated that all government officials were a target to him … because the United States government supports Israel.”
The radicalized teen fractured a rookie cop’s skull and injured a second officer in the frenzied assault, with a third officer shooting and wounding Bickford in his left shoulder, authorities said. He was taken to Bellevue for treatment and charged with attempted murder, authorities said.
His neighbors in Wells, Maine, described the terrorist suspect as an average teen who worked on a local golf course last summer and once played football for the local junior high school team.
A co-worker at the golf course said Bickford announced his sudden conversion to Islam earlier this year, and the local police chief in Maine said the teen’s mother reported he became radicalized in a Dec. 10 conversation. The FBI was notified about Bickford’s radical change of heart, the chief added.
Bickford was staying in a Queens park before his trip into Manhattan, and police sources said the teen expected to die during the attack — and even asked for a traditional Muslim funeral in a note recovered by investigators.