Machete-wielding man who attacked police officers in Times Square sentenced: DOJ

Trevor Bickford pleaded guilty to terrorism charges after attacking three NYPD officers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve in 2022.

May 10, 2024, 11:20 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK CITY, NY – A man who brazenly attacked three NYPD officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2022 has been sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Trevor Bickford, 20, of Wells, Maine, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to terrorism charges in January, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Prosecutors said Bickford went on a violent rampage on Dec. 31, 2022, an attack against police inspired by “radical Islamic extremism.”

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“(Bickford’s) brutal ambush of three New York City police officers guarding New Year’s Eve celebrations was a premeditated act of terrorism,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Police officers work tirelessly to protect the communities they serve, and attacks on them are reprehensible.”

According to court documents, Bickford — a U.S. citizen and resident of Maine — traveled to New York City to, in his own words, “wage jihad and kill as many targets as possible.”

Prosecutors said Bickford went to Times Square armed with a machete during the annual New Year’s Eve celebration, where he ambushed three NYPD officers and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase that means “God is great.”

Prosecutors said the officers were seriously injured when Bickford swung the machete at their heads. During the attack, he also tried to grab an officer’s gun. According to court documents, one of the officers stopped Bickford by shooting him in the shoulder.

Bickford later stated that his goal in the attack was to kill as many military-age men working for the U.S. government as possible before killing himself and becoming a “martyr” in the attack.

According to prosecutors, Bickford planned the attack by consuming materials that promoted radical Islamic ideology. In the months before the attack, Bickford planned to travel abroad to support and ally with the Taliban.

Prosecutors said Bickford ultimately decided not to travel abroad and instead carried out an attack in the United States.