‘ACT OF TERROR:’ Mayor, NYPD Commissioner Say EIGHT Dead In Manhattan Attack, Suspect Alive But Injured

New York mayor Bill de Blasio called Tuesday’s truck attack on Manhattan’s Lower East side an “act of terror” in a press conference held late Tuesday afternoon.

The mayor, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and New York city police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, spoke at the conference, telling media that a total of eight people have died and a dozen were injured in the attack, which took place Tuesday afternoon on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, not far from the World Trade Center.

Commissioner O’Neill told the press that the incident was “a tragedy of the greatest magnitude.”

“The driver of the truck exited the vehicle brandishing two handguns” after mounting the curb onto a bike path and then slamming his rental vehicle into a school bus, O’Neill said. The two guns turned out to be toys, designed to look like real weapons. “A paintball gun and a pellet gun were recovered at the scene,” O’Neill continued.

The suspect exited the truck and brandished his weapons at a nearby uniformed patrol officer, who then shot the man in his abdomen. The suspect was taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

O’Neill also said the suspect has been identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibillaevic Saipov of Tampa, Florida. Saipov is, according to reports, a native of Uzbekistan who emigrated to the United States in 2010.

FIRST PICTURE of NYC terror suspect during attack.
He is Sayfullo Saipov, 29, from Tampa, Florida & now in custody. pic.twitter.com/ZhtS43Iq4D

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 31, 2017