The Maine 20-year-old accused of trying to murder NYPD officers in a 2022 New Year’s Eve machete attack near Times Square changed his plea on several terror-related counts to guilty Thursday. Chief investigative reporter Jonathan Dienst with the latest.
The Maine 20-year-old accused of trying to murder NYPD officers in a 2022 New Year's Eve machete attack near Times Square changed his plea on several terror-related counts to guilty Thursday.
Trevor Bickford was indicted a year ago on terror charges including attempted murder, assault and aggravated assault on a police officer, according to the Manhattan DA. He pleaded guilty to five counts involving those charges, which stem from the Dec. 31, 2023, attack on three cops he approached on Eighth Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets.
Bickford told the judge he was under psychiatric treatment for schizoaffective disorder.
Then, in a separate statement to the court, he said, "On Dec. 31, 2022, I attempted to kill 3 uniformed NYPD officers in an attack with a knife while they were working. I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry."
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All three officers were treated for their injuries and released from the hospital a day after the incident.
Bickford's family was in the courtroom Thursday for the plea change, including his mother, stepfather and two aunts, who had tears in their eyes. Bickford faces up to 120 years in prison when he is sentenced.
Had the case gone to trial, among the government's evidence were the 12-inch machete used in the attack, a journal found at the scene with Trevor's "last Will and Testament" and officers' bodycamera video that shows the attack.
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It also would include statements made by Bickford when he was arrested, including, "I walked around Times Square trying to figure out the right time to kill" and "I intended to die in the attack and achieve martyrdom.
Bickford is set to be sentenced on April 11.
Senior law enforcement officials had described him as a "homegrown violent extremist" who tried to carry out the assault with a large knife on a night when midtown streets were jam-packed. Bickford was shot in the shoulder amid the chaos that ensued. He allegedly made statements to detectives implicating himself once in custody.
“A year and one day ago today, this Office charged Trevor Bickford with attempting to murder three NYPD officers while they were on duty protecting the thousands of civilians who flocked to Times Square just over a year ago to celebrate the New Year with friends and family," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement Thursday. "Bickford targeted the iconic yearly celebration to carry out brazen acts of violence and hatred in the name of jihad. Bickford, as with countless others who have carried out acts of terrorism in support of misguided ideologies, is now going to spend lengthy time exactly where he deserves – in federal prison.”
Meanwhile, James Smith, the assistant director in charge of the New York field office of the FBI, shared similar sentiments. In a statement, Smith said that Bickford "deliberately plotted to bring terror to the streets of New York by targeting law enforcement officers purely carrying out their oath to protect and serve." Smith also went on to describe Bickford's guilty plea as "a stark reminder of the threat terrorists, and those they inspire, pose to our country."
