Earlier today, a pickup truck driver killed eight people and injured more than a dozen others when he drove down a New York City bike path in what authorities said was a terrorist attack.
The 29-year-old driver was shot by police in the abdomen and taken into custody after he crashed the truck into a school bus and fled his vehicle, New York City Police Commissioner James O‘Neill told a news conference.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called the incident an “apparent act of terrorism .”
Governor Andrew Cuomo
said the suspect appeared to have acted alone. “There’s no evidence to suggest a wider plot or a wider scheme. These are the actions of one individual meant to cause pain and harm and probably death,” Cuomo said at the news conference.
On Twitter , Cuomo addressed all New Yorkers:
Mayor Bill de Blasio
called the attack a “cowardly act of terrorism” at the news conference.
The suspect was driving a rented Home Depot truck and entered the bike path in lower Manhattan at 3:05 p.m. , O‘Neill said, adding that he was armed with a paintball gun and a pellet gun.
Of the eight people killed, six were pronounced dead at the scene and two more were pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, O‘Neill said.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro
said 11 survivors with serious but non-life-threatening injuries were taken to hospitals.
The attack was reminiscent of several similar attacks carried out in Europe last year.
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