Authorities Say Driver In NYC Terror Attack Declared Support For Islamic State

Police say the man accused of Tuesday's terror attack in New York City did it in the name of the Islamic State. They also say he had been planning the attack for several weeks.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

We begin in New York, where prosecutors have filed federal terrorism charges against the suspect in yesterday's attack, Sayfullo Saipov. The charging documents against Saipov describe interviews from his hospital bed in which he lays out in detail how he planned and carried out yesterday's attack near the World Trade Center, which killed eight and injured 12. Here's how John Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence at the NYPD, laid it out earlier today.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

JOHN MILLER: He did this in the name of ISIS. He appears to have followed almost exactly to a T the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media channels before with instructions to their followers on how to carry out such an attack.

KELLY: In a moment, we'll talk more about the world - the role that ISIS can play in attacks like this one. First NPR's Joel Rose is with us from New York. Hey, Joel.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.

KELLY: Give us more detail. What exactly is Saipov being charged with?

ROSE: He's charged with one count of providing material support to terrorists and one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles. But what is really remarkable about this criminal complaint is not so much the charges themselves. It's what investigators say Saipov told them from his hospital bed at Bellevue Hospital both last night and today.

KELLY: All right. And we should remind people he was shot as he exited the truck after this episode yesterday. All right, so what did he say from the hospital bed?

ROSE: Well, according to the complaint, Saipov had been planning some kind of attack for a year. He settled on the truck about two months ago as a way to, quote, "maximize damage against civilians," unquote. Prosecutors say Saipov was motivated to do this after watching videos of ISIS on his cellphone. Prosecutors say he rented the van ahead of time in order to practice turns he would use during the attack and that he chose Halloween as a date because he thought there would be more civilians on the street for the holiday.

Investigators also say the West Side Highway was not his final destination. According to the complaint, he intended to continue onto the Brooklyn Bridge. He didn't get that far, possibly because his truck collided with a school bus. According to the complaint also, Saipov wanted to display the flag of ISIS in his hospital room and stated that he felt good about what he had done.

KELLY: Now, police today also released the names of those eight people who were killed in the attack. What can you tell us about them?

ROSE: Five of the victims were from Argentina. They were part of a tight-knit group of friends who had traveled to New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation. One of the dead was a young mother from Belgium. Two local residents were also killed. Darren Drake of New Milford, N.J. - he was a project manager with Moody's Investors who was out riding his bike during a break from work. And Nicholas Cleves was riding near his home in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

KELLY: And one more note, before I let you go, on Saipov, which is, not only did we hear some of what he has been telling investigators in those court documents, but he also actually appeared in court today. Is that right?

ROSE: Right. Saipov was brought into court in a wheelchair. He did not enter a plea. His lawyer did not seek bail. His lawyer is David Patton, the head of the federal defenders office in New York. He did not want to discuss the particulars of this case, but he did tell me it's important to let the process play out.

KELLY: So you were there yourself.

ROSE: No, but I spoke to Patton afterwards.

KELLY: Patton afterward - OK, that's NPR's Joel Rose reporting from New York. Joel, thanks very much for the update.

ROSE: You're welcome.

Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.