Man arrested for attempted murder of machete attack victim

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of attacking police with a machete near New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve, injuring two officers, was arrested Monday on attempted murder charges, police said Monday.

Trevor Bickford (age 19, is also facing attempted assault charges,” the New York Police Department stated in a release.

Bickford was injured in the shoulder when police shot him during the altercation and was currently being treated at the hospital. He was still awaiting his arraignment. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer who could speak to the allegations.

An official in law enforcement has told The Associated Press that investigators were looking into Whether he was inspired or not by radical Islamic extremism.

It happened just before midnight Saturday. The violence took place outside the high security zone, where revelers are screened to ensure they don’t have weapons before entering. one of the world’s biggest and most famous New Year’s celebrations.

Authorities said that two of the officers were hit with the machete by the suspect before he was shot. Two officers, one with a fractured skull, the other with a bad injury, were taken to hospital and are expected to fully recover. So was the suspect.

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Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak from the Associated Press contributed to this report.