Eight people are dead after a truck plowed into a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center in New York on Tuesday afternoon. 13 others are hurt in what officials are investigating as a “terror attack.”
Sources close to News Talk Florida confirm that driver of the rental truck has a Tampa license. According to ABC 7 Sarasota, the driver to be 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov of Tampa.
After Saipov crashed the truck into a school bus, he exited the vehicle with fake firearms and was immediately shot in the abdomen by a police officer in the area, said the NYPD.
The suspect, who is in police custody, was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Officials said they are now investigating the attack as terrorism. Witnesses report Saipov was shouting “Allahu Akbar” upon exiting the truck, said four law enforcement sources.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is taking the lead in this investigation.
Sayfullo Saipov And His Ties To Florida
Saipov came to the U.S. legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan, and officials believe he first lived in Ohio when he arrived.
When authorities took Saipov into custody, he had a Florida driver’s license on him, and according to WFLA, some public records show an address for him at a Tampa apartment complex.
FBI agents arrived at the apartment complex on Tuesday evening to conduct interviews; witnesses told WFLA.
The New York Times spoke with Kobiljon Matkarov, a friend who met Saipov in Florida, told reporters he seemed like a “very good guy.”