A suspected terrorist deliberately targeted a school bus after driving a flatbed truck down a busy bike path in New York City, say authorities.
The suspect, 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov, killed eight and injured nearly a dozen in what is being called a “cowardly act of terror”.
Saipov drove a Home Depot rental truck at least 20 blocks down the heavily trafficked Hudson River Greenway bike path, striking dozens of pedestrians and bicyclists. He then slammed the truck into a school bus on Chambers street, only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.
Witnesses told police they saw the man deliberately swerve the truck to hit the bus. Two staff and two children suffered from non-life threatening injuries, reports NBC New York.
After striking the school bus, witnesses say Saipov screamed, “Allahu Akbar”, Arabic for “God is great”, before exiting the truck carrying a pellet gun and a paintball gun.
Saipov then started running around the busy streets before being shot in the abdomen by an officer on patrol. He was reportedly taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Law enforcement officials say a note was found near the truck, claiming the attack was done for ISIS.
The event unfolded near elementary school P.S. 89, where a witness says children playing out in the courtyard began screaming and running back into the school.
Another witness says he went to go help the school bus driver following the crash.
“I wasn’t sure why he was so spaced out and then I went to the other side, it was all caved on. A poor girl was stuck right above the wheel well. There were two kids that were just stuck by the window. It was all blown out,” says the witness.
In addition to P.S. 89, nearby Stuyvesant High School and P.S. 289 were placed on lockdown amidst the chaos.
“They were sawing through a school bus window. They broke all of the windows and were trying to pull kids out. There was a man covering a child with a blanket. There was one kid who was stuck,” recalls 14-year-old freshman Olivia Raykhman.
Raykhman says she took shelter in the basement of Stuyvesant High School with 50 other people, according to the New York Times.
Parents could be seen picking up their children after the lockdown was lifted, many dressed in Halloween costumes.
New York City’s famed Village Halloween Parade proceeded despite the attack with a heavy police force and blocker vehicles in place.
Schools chancellor Carmen Farina says guidance and trauma counselors will be provided across all city schools.
Anyone with information regarding the attack is asked to call the Crime Stoppers line at 1-800-577-TIPS or the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
