UPDATE: The latest reports indicate that Sayfullo Saipov, a resident of Tampa, Florida, was the driver of the rented truck that ran down people along a bicycle path in lower Manhattan this afternoon. The death toll has risen to eight with at least 12 more injured.
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At least six people are reported to have been killed in lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center as a man in a rented truck plowed into bicyclists on a crowded bike path.
At least six people were killed Tuesday afternoon when a speeding Home Depot truck plowed along a Lower Manhattan bike path, running down helpless riders from behind, sources said.
Eyewitnesses told police the driver yelled “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — after leaving the mangled bodies scattered behind his rental truck.
According to northjersey.com,
The official was familiar with the investigation but wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The rented Home Depot van drove onto a busy bicycle path and struck several people, then the driver emerged from the vehicle screaming. The official says the man had two imitation firearms.
Police say the man was shot by officers and is in custody.
As the New York Times reports,
The driver was being treated at a nearby hospital. He also crashed into a school bus as he careened down as many as 20 city blocks near Stuyvesant High School, a senior law enforcement official said. It was unclear if anyone was on the bus.
A large section of the West Side Highway was closed for the investigation as hundreds of officers, including the bomb squad, responded to the scene. The truck came to a rest near Chambers and West Streets.
The police said they were not looking for additional suspects.
While it’s too soon to draw any conclusions, it certainly appears to be a terror attack followed by an attempt at suicide by cop. Watch this space.
FIRST PHOTO, man behind today’s terror attack in Manhattan pic.twitter.com/qkmnWOLoLy
— New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) October 31, 2017