A Maine teenager alleged to have attempted to kill three NYPD officers blocks from Times Square on New Year's Eve in the name of jihad been charged federally, court documents show.
As NBC News first reported, Trevor Bickford espoused jihadist views and attempted to kill police officers with a nearly 18" long knife just before the stroke of midnight.
On Tuesday, the FBI alleged that starting last summer the 19-year-old from Wells, Maine, began to follow the teachings of a so-called cleric who espoused radical views and is the alleged spiritual leader of Al Qaeda, identified in court documents as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
In November, the FBI alleged he attempted to travel to the Middle East to support the Taliban and told a family member he wanted to be a suicide bomber.
The complaint confirms the entirety of NBC News' reporting in the days that followed the attack.
In a press release prosecutors say that Bickford wrote in his journal on New Year's Eve that "this will likely be my last entry" and that his brother had "joined the ranks of my enemy" by joining the US military.
The complaint also details Bickford's post-Miranda self-incriminating statements made at the hospital.
He faces up to 20 years for each count.
The federal charges come after Bickford was indicted on a slew of terror-related charges, the Manhattan district attorney's office said. Those charges include attempted murder, assault and aggravated assault on a police officer. In all, Bickford faces 18 counts against him from the district attorney for the alleged Dec. 31 attack on three cops he approached on Eighth Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets just after 10 p.m.
Senior law enforcement officials have described the 19-year-old as a "homegrown violent extremist" who tried to carry out the assault with a large knife on a night when midtown streets are jam-packed. Bickford was shot in the shoulder amid the chaos that ensued. He has remained hospitalized in Department of Correction custody in the days following the alleged incident, and is expected to be arraigned in Supreme Court on Feb. 1.
According to Lisa Nicholas, assistant district attorney, Bickford allegedly made statements implicating himself in the attack and said he indicated that he intentionally waited until the moment when an officer was isolated, away from civilians, to attack. After he allegedly dropped the knife, Nicholas said Bickford indicated he wanted to grab another officer's gun to kill other people but couldn't get the weapon out of the holster.
"I wanted to kill an officer in uniform. I saw the office and waited until he was alone. I said 'Allauh Akbar.' I walked up and hit him over the head with a kukri. I charged another officer but dropped the knife and I tried to get the police officer's gun but couldn't," Bickford allegedly told detectives.
Nicholas also argued that he poses a "significant flight risk," telling the court Bickford indicated he intended to travel across the United States after leaving New York City and had bought an Amtrak ticket to Miami. Nicholas said Bickford at first indicated he wanted to travel internationally but decided instead to come to New York to carry out "jihad."
He also allegedly said he considered all government officials targets because they couldn't be proper Muslims given the United States government's support of Israel.
"He stated he specifically targeted the uniformed police officer because an officer is a man in uniform with a weapon and often in the military are targets for the defendant," Nicholas added.
Senior officials briefed on the attack described Bickford earlier this week as a "homegrown violent extremist motivated in part by Salafi-extremism." They said that after his arrest, he said he was self-radicalized and that he had converted his beliefs about three or four months ago, officials said.
Bickford only recently considered New York as a target, officials allege, and decided to go forward with the attack once he got to the city after taking an Amtrak train from Boston on Dec. 29, according to law enforcement officials. He stayed at a hotel on the Bowery, senior police officials said, and may have spent time before the attack in Queens.
Investigators found some of his belongings in Forest Park Monday morning.
All three officers Bickford is accused of attacking were released from the hospital the following morning.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell has said two of the cops suffered blows to the head. An eight-year veteran suffered a head laceration and a recent police academy graduate endured a skull fracture, she said.
Investigators have said they believe Bickford acted alone. They planned to search for more evidence at his Maine home in the town of Wells. Neighbors who knew the suspect and his family told NBC Boston said they were surprised by the allegations.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting in the investigation.
