New York police call hatchet attack 'act of terrorism'
October 25, 2014
Police described the hatchet attack as a "lone wolf" incident, saying that the perpetrator did not have any known connections to extremist groups.
Nevertheless, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told a news conference on Friday that he was "very comfortable" calling the incident a "terrorist attack."
Zale Thompson, 32, allegedly assaulted four police officers with a hatchet in broad daylight on Thursday at a busy shopping area in the New York City borough of Queens.
Two police officers were injured, one critically. Thompson was shot dead and a 29-year-old woman was hit by stray fire. She is in stable but critical condition.
Recent Muslim convert
Thompson converted to Islam two years ago. Before the hatchet attack, he had watched beheading videos and visited al Qaeda and "Islamic State" websites, according to police.
His Internet browsing history also showed that he had informed himself about the latest attacks in Canada. Police said that Thompson had posted anti-Western, anti-government, and anti-white comments on social media. He was an African American.
"This is something he has been thinking about for some time and thinking about with more intensity in recent days," chief of detectives Robert Boyce said of the hatchet attack.
Relatives described Thompson as a "recluse" and "lately depressed." Unmarried and unemployed, he had been involuntarily discharged from the US military in 2003, likely due to drugs, according to police.
slk/sb (AFP, Reuters)