At least eight people are dead after a driver barreled
into a bike path and crashed a rental pickup truck into a crowd in Lower
Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.
Police have identified the suspect who killed eight
people and injured 11 more in New York City on Tuesday when he barreled into a
bike path and then rammed a pickup truck into a crowd.
The suspected driver, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov,
shouted "Allahu Akbar" after the crash, law enforcement officials
tell Fox News. Saipov, who was shot by police, was taken into custody and
remains hospitalized.
The
suspect in Tuesday's terror attack in New York City was driving a Home Depot
rental truck when he plowed down a group of pedestrians near the World Trade
Center. (AP Photo)
The suspect was from
Uzbekistan and had a green card, a source told Fox News. According to The Associated
Press, Saipov has a Florida license but may have been living in New Jersey, and
came to the U.S. in 2010.
Saipov, according to the
New York Post, had notes inside his rental truck that were
handwritten in Arabic, "along with either a flag of the [Islamic State]
symbol or a smaller picture of the flag."
Four of the injured were
teachers and students who were riding on a short yellow school bus near
Stuyvesant High School when they were hit by the suspect's Home Depot rental
truck. One student remains in critical condition.
A victim killed in the
attack was a Belgian citizen, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs
Minister of Belgium Didier Reyners tweeted
on Tuesday. Three Belgians were also injured.
Others killed in the
attack were Argentine citizens, according to Argentina's Foreign Ministry.
Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported five of the eight people
killed were from Argentina.
The incident was being
treated as a terrorist attack. At a news conference Tuesday evening, Mayor Bill
de Blasio called the attack "an act of terror and a particularly cowardly
act of terror aimed at innocent civilians."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
referred to the incident as a "lone wolf" attack, and added that at
this point in the investigation, there is no evidence to suggest that there was
a wider plot.
Around the globe, cities
have been on high alert regarding vehicle attacks. ISIS has been encouraging
its followers to mow down people, and England, France and Germany have all seen
deadly vehicle attacks in recent months and years.
FBI officials confirmed
to Fox News that they have agents responding to the situation with the NYPD. A
bomb squad examined the truck, but found no explosives.
Acting Secretary of
Homeland Security Elaine Duke said in a statement that "DHS and its law
enforcement partners remain vigilant and committed to safeguarding the American
people."
Following the incident,
President Donald Trump tweeted, "looks like another attack by a very sick and
deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE
U.S.A.!"
Trump later tweeted that his "thoughts, condolences and
prayers to the victims and families of the New York City terrorist attack. God
and your country are with you!"
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Police said the truck
entered the bike path on West Street a few blocks from the new World Trade
Center -- the site of the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history -- and plowed
into several people. The driver jumped out of his rental truck -- which police
say Saipov rented from Home Depot around 2 p.m. Tuesday -- carrying what turned
out to be a paintball gun and a pellet gun.
Video of the attack
provided to Fox News by a witness shows the accused suspect running through
traffic on the West Side Highway, surrounded by police in the nearby
area.
Despite the attack, the
city's Halloween Parade went on as planned, with police "dramatically
increasing presence," including "personnel, blocker trucks, long guns
etc.," according to De Blasio's press secretary. Cuomo and de Blasio both
attended the annual event.
Fox News' Jake Gibson,
Catherine Herridge, Rick Leventhal and The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
