Breaking: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the vehicle attack in Lower Manhattan was ‘an act of terror,’ with at least eight dead and 12 injured.
Officials in New York said a vehicle drove onto a bike path in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, killing at least six people and injuring others before the suspected attacker was taken into police custody.
The New York police and FBI investigators suspect terrorism as the motive behind the vehicle attack, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.
Officials suspect terrorism because the attack, in which a Home Depot rental truck was used to ram down cyclists on a bike path, appeared to be deliberate, and because of statements some witnesses said the driver made when he jumped out of the vehicle brandishing what appeared to be a weapon.
Police said the vehicle drove onto the West Street pedestrian and bike path, striking “multiple people” as it headed south. Police said the suspect got out of the vehicle bearing “imitation firearms” before being shot by officers and taken into custody.
At least six people were killed, according to a law enforcement official and a city official briefed on the situation.
The truck hit a school bus at one point, although it was unclear if anyone was injured from the crash, the city official said.
A Home Depot spokesman confirmed that a rental truck from the company was involved and said they were cooperating with authorities.
Officials flooded to the scene after the first reports of carnage that erupted on the west side of Manhattan, not far from Stuyvesant High School and the World Trade Center site.
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) arrived in the area Tuesday afternoon, where they were briefed on what happened alongside James P. O’Neill, the New York police commissioner.
After taking the suspected attacker into custody, police said they were not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident.
As emergency vehicles hurried to the scene, it was not immediately clear what had happened, but people had posted messages on social media suggesting that a vehicle had struck people and that the driver had potentially fired shots as well.
A fire department spokesman on Tuesday that people were “being treated and evaluated at the scene,” which he described as “a pretty lengthy scene.” Police in New York urged people to avoid a stretch of West Street extending more than a mile along the west side of Manhattan.