'Act of terror': At least 8 dead in New York City after truck driver plows into crowd
Police respond after a rental truck hit pedestrians in downtown Manhattan, New York City. Associated Press
- A terror attack in New York City left eight people dead on Tuesday after a driver plowed a truck down a bike lane, hitting cyclists and pedestrians.
- New York police arrested one suspect and said the threat is over.
- Officials are investigating the incident as a terrorist attack.
At least eight people were killed in New York City on Tuesday after a man rammed a pickup truck into cyclists and pedestrians on a busy Manhattan bike lane, collided with a school bus, and jumped out brandishing fake guns, police said. They described the incident as an act of terror.
The suspect was arrested after being shot by a uniformed officer shortly after the crash. Authorities said the man acted alone and there was no longer an active threat as of Tuesday afternoon.
"This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference.
Six of the fatalities from the attack were pronounced dead at the scene, all of whom were males, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. The two other fatalities were pronounced dead at the hospital. Another 11 people were taken to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.
Police did not name the suspect, but said he was a 29-year-old man. Media outlets, however, quickly began reporting his identity as Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old resident of Tampa, Florida, according to ABC News. Saipov is originally from Uzbekistan and came to the US in 2010, CNN reported.
Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
The attack began around 3:05 p.m. on Tuesday, when the suspect drove a rented Home Depot pickup truck down the West Side Highway bicycle path, entering at Houston Street, New York Police Department commissioner James O'Neill said at a press conference.
Media outlets reported that the driver of the vehicle drove into the bike lane for more than 10 blocks in the wrong direction, hitting cyclists and pedestrians along the way.
The vehicle continued south and struck the school bus at Chambers Street, injuring two adults and two children, O'Neill said. The driver then exited the vehicle brandishing "imitation firearms" that were later revealed to be a pellet gun and a paintball gun, and was shot in the abdomen by a cop.
Some witnesses said they heard the suspect shouting "Allahu akbar," an Arabic phrase used by Muslims meaning "God is great," as he exited the truck.
"This is a tragedy of the greatest magnitude," O'Neill said.
Shortly after the incident, social media began flooding with photos and unconfirmed accounts from the scene.
via Snapchat Maps
"I was just walking out of school heading in that direction and heard the shots," a student at nearby Borough of Manhattan Community College told Business Insider. Several nearby buildings, including Stuyvesant High School, were put on lockdown following the incident.
Cuomo, de Blasio and a bunch of cops getting briefed. Pic by Cuomo aide. twitter.com/AndrewHBall/st…
