MSNBC guest Malcolm Nance said Tuesday that the Manhattan terrorist could “just as easily” be a former Catholic.

WATCH:

Eight people are confirmed dead after 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov drove into a bike lane in New York City. The attack has been confirmed as terrorism and witnesses reportedly told the New York Police Department that Saipov shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack.

Saipov is an Uzbek national who came to the United States in 2010.

But Nance said it is just as likely that he could have been an “American who was formerly Catholic” because terrorists “self-radicalize.”

“The guy has been here since 2010, we saw the same problem that happened with the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston,” Nance asserted. “These people self-radicalize and it could have been an American who was formerly Catholic two weeks ago just as easily as it was a person from South Asia.”

Nance also said it is “preemptive” to point out that ISIS recruits heavily from Uzbekistan.

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