New York City: 19-year-old boy charged over New Year's Eve machete attack on three police officers

The New York Police Department on Monday said that a 19-year-old boy who attacked three police officers with a machete on New Year's Eve hasbeen charged with assault and attempted murder.

The teenage boy has been identified as Trevor Bickford. Without giving any further details. The police said that Bickford was from Wells, AFP reported.

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According to the police conference held on January 01, the attack happened around 10 pm outside the Times Square security zone where thousands of New Yorkers gathered to celebrate New Year.

The assailant was shot by a police officer on the shoulder after he attacked two police officers on their heads, without causing life-threatening injury.

The officers were then taken to the hospital for treatment and Mayor Eric Adams said that theywere in stable condition. He also praised the police response by saying that officers immediately secured the scene.

According to the US media, Bickford exhibited signs of Islamist radicalisation and might have sought to commit a suicide attack.

CNN citing anonymous sources said that the teenager was carrying a diary with him in which he had expressed his desire to join Afghanistan's Taliban and die as a martyr.

Bickford in mid-December was questioned by the FBI after one of his close relatives warned the bureau of hisstatements, NBC reported. The FBI counterintelligence unit was involved in the investigation, the police said.

(with inputs from agencies)

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