Man who killed 8 on New York bike path on Halloween convicted of murder and terrorism
The penalty phase, when jurors will decide if he will receive receives life in prison or the death penalty, will begin on February 6.
The man who killed eight people on a New York City bike path in 2017 was found guilty on federal charges for murder and terrorism.
Sayfullo Saipov, 34, was convicted by a jury for the violent attack conducted with a rented U-Haul truck on Halloween day.
Saipov was found guilty on all 28 charges against him, including murder, attempted murder, and providing material support for terrorism. Nine of the charges carry a possibility of the death penalty.
Prosecutors argued that Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, carried out the attack in an attempt to join the Islamic State.
‘Right after the attack, he proudly declared why he did it,’ Assistant US Attorney Alexander Li argued. ‘He did it for ISIS, the brutal terrorist organization.’
The brutal attack began on a bike path near the West Side Highway in Manhattan. Pedestrians and cyclists screamed in terror when a pickup truck crossed over the median and slammed into victims
A total of eight people were killed by the driver, who accelerated to a speed of 60 miles per hour as he traveled down the bike path. Another 11 people were seriously injured.
The attack ended when the driver crashed into a parked school bus near a Manhattan school.
According to onlookers, the driver emerged from the truck’s cabin yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ and brandishing two firearms. Police later found that the weapons were a paintball gun and a pellet gun.
The massacre came to an end when a police officer shot the attacker in the abdomen, after which he was taken into custody.
Defense attorneys for Saipov did not dispute that he carried out the attack. They only challenged that he planned the massacre in an attempt to join ISIS.
‘If you commit an attack and you are planning to die, you are not planning on joining an organization,’ defense attorney David Patton said.
The penalty phase, when jurors will decide if he will receive receives life in prison or the death penalty, will begin on February 6.
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