The teen accused of attacking three New York Police Department (NYPD) officers with a machete on New Year's Eve allegedly had a goal of killing a uniformed officer, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
Trevor Bickford, a 19-year-old native of Wells, Maine, allegedly took a train to New York City on December 29 and attacked the law enforcement officers unprovoked as they worked a security checkpoint near Times Square. He has been charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault, ABC News reported.
The criminal complaint against Bickford quoted him as saying that he "wanted to kill an officer in uniform," according to WABC-TV.
"I saw the officer and waited until he was alone. I said 'Allahu Akbar,'" Bickford reportedly told police. "I walked up and hit him over the head with a kukri. I charged another officer but dropped the knife and I tried to get the police officer's gun but couldn't."
Police are describing him as a self-radicalized Islamic extremist, according to WABC-TV. Bickford, whom police shot in the shoulder to stop the attack, was arraigned via video from his hospital bed on Wednesday. A Manhattan judge ordered him to be held without bail.
None of the three NYPD officers were fatally wounded. Bickford allegedly approached one officer and attempted to strike him on the head with the machete, then struck two additional officers on the head, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference early Sunday.
One of those officers, an eight-year veteran, suffered a laceration to the head. Another officer who just graduated from the police academy on Friday suffered a skull fracture and laceration, Sewell said.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Bickford, issued a statement Wednesday urging the public to refrain from "drawing hasty conclusions" and to respect the privacy of his family.
"Trevor Bickford, who is just a teenager, has no prior contact with the criminal legal system," the statement read. "Earlier today, Mr. Bickford was arraigned from Bellevue Hospital after languishing in NYPD custody for nearly four days despite a well-established court requirement that an arraignment take place within 24-hours of arrest. We've just received initial discovery from the District Attorney's office, and we'll have more to say about this case after a thorough review and investigation."
Newsweek reached out to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for comment.
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Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more
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