By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
The suspect accused of mowing down cyclists and pedestrians on a bike path in New York was radicalized in the U.S., New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.
Five friends on vacation from Argentina were among the eight killed Tuesday when the 29-year-old suspect plowed a rental truck into his victims before crashing into a school bus with special needs children in lower Manhattan. A dozen more were injured.
The tragedy is the first fatal attack in New York since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that brought down the nearby World Trade Center twin towers.
Echoing his remarks from Tuesday, Cuomo continued to insist the suspect behind Tuesday's attack ultimately fell short of his goal to instill terror.
“They’re depraved cowards who failed,” he said in remarks to CNN. “They failed yesterday and they’ll fail every time they do it.”
Authorities identified the suspect as Sayfullo Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan who came to the U.S. in 2010. They said it was too early to say how or when he became radicalized but have interviewed him at a hospital where he is recovering from being shot by police in the stomach.
Lashing out at the U.S.’s immigration system and in an attempt to blame the attack on the top senator from New York, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that the country should change to a system he has long sought.
“The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty,” he said, referring to the Senate’s senior Democrat. “We are fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter).”
Cuomo slammed the remarks, telling reporters at a news conference Wednesday he is bothered by any attempt “by anyone to politicize this situation.
"To politicize this event is wholly counterproductive," he said. "His tweet wasn't even accurate as far as I'm concerned. That was a bipartisan law that was passed."
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Anadolu Agency the suspect entered the U.S. via the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program that issues as many as 50,000 visas in an annual lottery.
The law was signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
Undeterred, Trump said he is starting a process to terminate the U.S.'s diversity lottery program, while calling Saipov an "animal.”
"I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program," he said. "It sounds nice. It's not nice."
He also warned that he would consider sending Saipov to the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and said Saipov's family "could represent a threat".
Authorities have indicated whether Saipov's family is a threat but his wife is reportedly cooperating with the investigation.
The White House later said it considers Saipov an "enemy combatant", a designation that would strip him of his constitutional rights, including due process under the law.
"I think the actions that he took certainly justify that," spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Senator John McCain, a vocal Trump critic, sided with the administration. Saipov "should be held and interrogated—thoroughly, responsibly, and humanely—as an enemy combatant consistent with the Law of Armed Conflict,” he said.
"He should not be read Miranda Rights, as enemy combatants are not entitled to them. As soon as possible, the administration should notify Congress how it plans to proceed with the interrogation and trial of this suspect," according to McCain who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Saipov, reportedly a father of at least two children, lived in Paterson, New Jersey, the state’s third largest city, which has the second largest Muslim population by percentage in the U.S.
Notes written in Arabic recovered from the scene of the attack indicate Saipov claimed the attack for Daesh. The "gist of the notes was the Islamic State would endure forever,” said New York Police Department deputy commissioner John Miller.
Miller said Saipov followed Daesh's instructions to its followers to carry out attacks "almost to a T."
In addition to two imitation guns, authorities recovered multiple knives from inside and around the rental truck the suspect used.
Based on the ongoing investigation it appears Saipov had been planning the attack for a number of weeks, Miller said.
He cautioned against possible targeting of Muslims following the attack, saying anyone who does "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“This is an important time to say this isn’t about Islam. It’s not about what mosque he attends. There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in New York City who are adversely affected by this,” Miller said.
Authorities are doubling the number of police officers around the city ahead of the world-famous New York City Marathon on Sunday that is expected to draw more than 50,000 runners.
Earlier Wednesday, the normally frantic New York Stock Exchange held a moment of silence to honor the victims of the attack.
