‘Premeditated act of terrorism’
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A judge sentenced a Maine man to 27 years in prison Thursday after he pled guilty to committing a terrorist attack on police in Times Square on New Year’s Eve in 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release.
20-year-oldTrevorBickfordofWellsattackedandinjuredthreeNewYorkCityPoliceDepartment(NYPD)officerswatchingovertheNewYear’sEvecelebrationswithamachete-styleknife.Theattackwasapreplannedjihadistattackthatcouldhavekilledandinjuredmoreofficersandcivilians,accordingtotheDOJ’sstatement.BickfordpleadguiltytoterrorismchargesJan.11.
OneoftheinjuredofficersshotBickford,strikinghimontheshoulderandhaltinghisattack.Bickfordwantedtokillasmanymilitary-agedU.S.governmentofficialsaspossibleandbecomeamartyr,theDOJ’sstatementreads.
Bickfordimmersedhimselfin“theteachingsofSheikhAbuMuhammadAl-Maqdisi,aprominentradicalIslamicclericwhowasaspiritualmentorofalQaeda.”HechosecarryingoutterrorattacksonAmericansoilovertravelingtoAfghanistantojointheTaliban,accordingtotheDOJ
