Eight Dead in Truck Attack in Downtown New York City
by Richard D'Ambrosio /
Eight people were killed and 13 more injured on Tuesday afternoon in New York when a 29-year-old man rented a pickup truck that he used to plow into bicyclists and pedestrians just north of the World Trade Center.
Five of the victims killed were Argentinians visiting New York City for their 30th high school reunion. A sixth member of that group was injured.
After he crashed into a school bus outside of a high school, the suspect left the pickup truck brandishing imitation firearms, but was shot by a New York City police officer and taken into custody.
"This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a press conference.
NYers are resilient and won't be deterred. Great to see large crowd at annual Halloween parade in Village. Thx for showing world who we are. pic.twitter.com/rl3gC0wXfl
— Commissioner O'Neill (@NYPDONeill) November 1, 2017
The suspect, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, a resident of New Jersey who came to the United States legally in 2010, has been linked to ISIS-related social media accounts, according to media reports this morning.
Saipov had been an Uber driver in New Jersey for over six months, the company told CNN., and Uber is cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
At a press conference, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said however that there was "no evidence yet of associations or a continuing plot or associated plots” with terrorist organizations, “and our only evidence to date is that this was an isolated incident that he himself performed."
While the area around the attack was closed off by police, there was little to no impact around the city, with only West Street southbound from 14th street to Battery Tunnel and northbound from the Battery Tunnel to Canal Street closed. Southbound FDR Drive is also closed from Whitehall Street.
Subways were running close to schedule and tunnels and bridges in and out of Manhattan were open on Wednesday.
New York's annnual Halloween parade, which takes place in the city's Greenwich Village, went on as planned, unaffected by the attack.
Be here in spirit watch the parade from home on @NY1. #ny1boo #imaginarymenagerie pic.twitter.com/p4RYkws2UR
— NYC Halloween Parade (@NYCHalloween) November 1, 2017