Man sentenced to 27 years in prison for stabbing three officers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve

Trevor Bickford was sentenced Thursday to 27 years in federal prison for a “brazen” knife attack on New Year’s Eve 2022 in Times Square that seriously injured three New York City Police Department officers, the Justice Department said.

Bickford, who was 19 at the time of the attack, arrived from Maine in December 2022 with the intention of carrying out a jihadist attack on officers in uniform using a “machete knife,” prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in January to six charges stemming from the attack: three counts of attempted murder of government officials and three counts of assault on government officials.

In addition to the prison sentence, Bickford, now 20, was sentenced to life of supervised release.

“Today’s verdict holds Trevor Bickford responsible for his premeditated terrorist attack in Times Square in 2022, in which he attempted to kill three NYPD officers in a violent rampage,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Department of Justice is deeply grateful to the NYPD for its quick action and courage in preventing this New Year’s Eve attack and for the work they do every day to keep New Yorkers safe. The Department of Justice will always abide by the laws of its state and local communities. “We are our law enforcement partners as we work together to counter the threat of terrorism, and that includes relentlessly pursuing those who would harm public officials.”

Bickford faces up to 120 years in prison – 20 years for each charge.

The government called for a sentence of at least 50 years in prison, arguing in a court filing before Thursday’s sentence that it was “necessary and appropriate to reflect the extraordinarily serious nature of the defendant’s terrorist offense and to provide for just punishment for the defendant’s conduct.” “to deter and prevent the defendant from resuming activities in support of radical terrorist ideology and to deter others who, like the defendant, would attempt to commit brutal terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.”

Prosecutors said Bickford’s “brutal actions” had a lasting impact on the three officers, who they said believed a life sentence was appropriate.

The defense, meanwhile, requested a 10-year prison sentence followed by 15 years of supervised release. In a pre-sentence court hearing, they cited his youth at the time of the attack as a major mitigating factor and argued that his crimes “were based on an unhealthy obsession with Islam” stemming from untreated mental illness.

“Mr. Bickford deeply apologizes to the officers, their families and the witnesses that night,” his lawyers wrote. “He recognizes the pain and suffering he has caused and would do anything to make amends for what he has done. Although Mr. Bickford knows he cannot change the past, he knows he can change his future for the better, and he has worked to do so. “This is difficult under the difficult circumstances at (Metropolitan Detention Center).”

The three NYPD officers were manning a checkpoint on the edge of Times Square on December 31, 2022 when they were stabbed with an 18-inch kukri knife. The attack occurred near West 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue, outside the security perimeter set up for New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Bickford was shot by one of the injured officers and was arrested after the attack. According to prosecutors, law enforcement found Bickford’s backpack near the crime scene. A book in the backpack highlighted a passage that said: “Fight in the name of Allah and for the cause of Allah. Fight against those who do not believe in Allah. Wage a holy war,” said the prosecutor.

Bickford reportedly told investigators the attack was unsuccessful because none of the officers died and because he was not martyred, according to the Southern District of New York complaint.

Prosecutors said Bickford planned the Times Square attack after “months of radicalization” and initially planned to travel abroad to support the Taliban before focusing on an attack in the United States

Bickford also faces more than a dozen state charges related to the New Year’s Eve attack, including three counts of attempted first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism. He is scheduled to appear in court in the state’s case on May 22.