By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Uzbek immigrant who plowed into people on a bike path in New York City on Tuesday afternoon, killing eight and injuring nearly a dozen others, was inspired by ISIS and planned the attack for weeks, according to the FBI.
The FBI announced Wednesday afternoon that it was seeking information on another Uzbek immigrant who may have helped in the attack. But about an hour later, the FBI said during a press conference that Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, was no longer being sought. It wasn’t immediately clear why investigators are no longer searching for the man, whose image was circulated on wanted posters.
Reuters reported the truck driver, Sayfullo Saipov, had been in contact with a man who had been investigated by the FBI. It wasn’t immediately clear if that was Kadirov.
Saipov was charged in federal court Wednesday with terrorism-related crimes in connection with the deadliest terror attack in the city since Sept. 11, 2001.
Investigators say Saipov was shot in the abdomen by a police officer, planned the attack for weeks “in the name of ISIS,” and was inspired by the terrorist group’s magazine in which followers were urged to carry out a truck attack and leave behind a note indicated their support for ISIS.
Authorities found handwritten notes left behind by Saipov that suggested ISIS “would endure forever.”
Investigators have interviewed Saipov at the hospital, where he is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Videos viewed by authorities show Saipov driving at a moderate speed until he accelerated into the jogging path.
President Trump used the attack to slam a bipartisan immigration bill that created a visa lottery program that allowed Saipov to enter the U.S.
Calling for Congress to eliminate the bill signed by President
G.W. Bush in 1990, Trump said, “We have to get much tougher, much smarter and less politically correct.”
