Authorities charged Travis Bickford, 19, of Wells, ME, with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault, for allegedly attacking New York City cops with a machete on New Year’s Eve.
Bickford stands accused of approaching Officers Louis Iorio and Paul Cozzolino “near a post where cops were screening revelers for weapons” for the big New Year’s Eve party in Times Square.
The machete attack left Iorio with “a gash to the head.” Cozzolino had a fractured skull.
Thankfully, Iorio and Cozzolino left the hospital on Monday morning.
Bickford is also accused of striking officer Michael Hanna. He did not sustain serious injuries and shot Bickford in the shoulder and stopped the attack.
Law enforcement officials told The New York Post that Bickford landed on the FBI watch list after his mother and aunt told authorities about statements he made “indicating a desire to go fight in Afghanistan alongside Islamic militants.”
However, the feds have not charged Bickford:
“I want to be clear that the FBI, through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, is working very closely with [NYPD] to determine the nature of this attack,” the FBI’s Michael Driscoll said at the Sunday news conference. “And we will run every lead to ground. I also want to be very clear, as you’ve heard said tonight previously, this is very much an ongoing investigation so our ability to talk about specifics is limited.”
Bickford came to New York on December 29. Authorities found items purportedly belonging to him Forrest Park.
Sources said officers found a receipt on Bickford for a “donation to the Bowery Mission to satisfy the Muslim tenet of ‘good deeds.'”
Bickford allegedly had a diary with him stating he wanted to join the Taliban in Afghanistan and die as a martyr. He also supposedly had a letter with him, urging “his family to ‘repent to Allah’ so they ‘may be taken out of the hellfire.'”
From The New York Post:
“To my family — specifically, mother — I’m sorry for not having been a good enough son,” the note read, according to a police source.“I fear greatly that you will not repent to Allah,” it said. “And therefore I hold hope in my heart that a piece of you believes so that you may be taken out to the hellfire.“To [my brother] Travis. Of anyone I’ve known who I have felt is closest to faith — it’s you,” he allegedly wrote. “Of anyone I’ve ever wanted to accept Islam with me — it’s you. Please repent to Allah and accept Islam. I fear for you.Addressing his other brother — who sources said is in the Marines — the suspect allegedly wrote, “To Devon, there was a time when we were close, but that time has passed. You have joined the ranks of my enemy. And for that I can give you no kind words – return to Allah.”
Reports noted Bickford “found religion” after his father died of an overdose in 2018.
Others claimed Bickford wanted to attack those he considered an “enemy of the state”:
The 19-year-old alleged Islamic radical suspected in the New Year’s Eve machete attack on NYPD cops had specifically sought to target “a uniformed officer” or someone armed because he believed them to be an “enemy of the state,” sources told The Post on Sunday.Trevor Bickford, of Wells, Maine, allegedly went to Midtown on Saturday night to assault police officers or “someone with a gun,” the sources said he told the feds after his arrest.The suspect allegedly said he’d hatched the plot as recently as Friday, according to sources.
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