The New York City Machete Attack on New Year’s Eve in the ISIS-Aligned Media Unit Demanding Lone Offender Attacks

The 19-year-old being held by New York City police as the suspect in a machete attack against three police officers had a handwritten diary that expressed his desire to join the Taliban in Afghanistan and die as a martyr, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

For the past two days, Bickford had been in custody and under police guard at Bellevue Hospital, where he was being treated for the gunshot wound, sources said.

On Sunday, federal authorities from the United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office were discussing whether to charge Bickford federally or under state law or possibly both in relation to the attack, the sources said.

NYPD police said that after 10 p.m. he went to the Times Square checkpoint, where officers check bags for weapons or suspicious items.

Bickford pulled out a machete, striking one officer with the blade, and then another officer in the head with the handle before swinging the blade at a third officer, who then shot him in the shoulder, according to the sources and the NYPD.

Investigators on Sunday were seeking search warrants for the suspect’s phone and online activities to determine if he had been viewing violent extremist propaganda according to multiple law enforcement sources.

On Saturday, the NYPD sent a bulletin to law enforcement partners across the country and titled “ISIS-Aligned Media Unit Releases Video Ahead of New Year’s Eve, Demanding Lone Offender Attacks,” according to the sources.

CNN obtained a bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security about a video that was being sent to online chat rooms.

The law enforcement sources said the attack targeted one of New York’s most high profile events, and tactics appear to follow a familiar model of prior attacks against New York City by lone offenders.

If deemed a terrorist attack, it would be the first by a suspected terrorist on the event in Times Square, one of the world’s most watched New Year’s Eve celebrations.

The man accused of attacking the New York police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Years Eve was arrested and will be charged with attempted murder of a police officer.

Police are recommending the suspect, Trevor Bickford, be charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault in the attack, the New York Police Department said.

The formal arrest came two days after Bickford allegedly attacked police officers at a security screening area outside New Year’s Eve celebrations.

The Wells, Maine Police Department was concerned for Bickford on December 10 because his mother and grandmother became more concerned about his desire to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban.

When the FBI opened its wider investigation they also placed him on a terrorist watch list, according to sources. The federal crime of attempted material support of a terrorist group is not applicable to the Taliban because they are not a foreign terrorist entity.

Multiple law enforcement sources told CNN that Bickford traveled to New York via Amtrak, so those travels would not have tripped any watch list databases.

His original destination was Miami, but he stopped in New York and checked into the Grand Hotel onDecember 29th. The sources said that he checked out with all his luggage on New Year’s Eve.

The final entry of the diary of the suspected murderer, A.C. Macaulay, Phys. Rev. J.M. Thompson, C.L. McCann, J.D. Anderson, M.

There is a diary that investigators believe is owned by the suspect. According to sources familiar with the diary, the last entry is the final one and begins with, “This will most likely be my last entry,” and ends with instructions for his family and burial.