A man driving a truck “went on a rampage” and hit several pedestrians in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Monday morning, said a New York City councilman.
“A man driving a U-Haul went on a rampage in Bay Ridge,” City Councilman Justin Brannan
wrote on Twitter Monday, adding that “several people were hit and badly injured.”
“We have no idea of motives at this time but this wasn’t an accident,” Brannan claimed. “Suspect was actually arrested near the [Brooklyn] Battery Tunnel,” he added. “We think he hit at least 6 people with the truck and 2 are in very bad shape. PLEASE pray for these folks.”
Video footage posted online on Monday showed the incident in Brooklyn involving a U-Haul truck.
Police officials
told local media reported that a man in his 30s was hit by the U-Haul on 4th Avenue, while three other men who were on mopeds were struck and sustained minor injuries.
The incident happened on the same day a convicted terrorist, Sayfullo Saipov, is facing sentencing for killing eight people in a 2017 rampage while driving a U-Haul truck down a New York City bike path. A jury is considering a possible death sentence.
Saipov has previously expressed admiration for the ISIS terrorist group and has said he had an obligation to carry out those attacks, according to his attorney. “And as we sit here today, he still believes that, he still believes the ISIS messaging and he still believes it was God’s will that he do what he did,” Saipov’s attorney David Patton
said last month.
Officials have not publicly said whether the two incidents were linked. Meanwhile, unconfirmed
reports said the suspect attempted to evade capture before police arrested him following a chase.
Roberts Boyce, the former New York City Police Department chief of detectives,
told ABC7 that both incidents are comparable.
“Its the first thing I thought,” Boyce told the outlet. “I worked the Sayfull Saipov case I remember how dangerous it was and what he did and how deadly it was. That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the rented truck. So let’s hope it’s not that and it’s a person in mental distress at this point and it’s nothing more than that. It’s difficult to link the two right now but how can you not think about that?”
On New Year’s Eve, three NYPD officers were attacked by a man wielding a machete near Times Square, officials
said. Trevor Bickford, a 19-year-old from Maine, was arrested and charged in that case last month as reports
indicated that he may have been motivated by Islamic extremist viewpoints.
