Zach Strober ’19

Eight people were killed and more than 12 were injured when driver Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented pickup truck down a busy bicycle path for about a mile in lower Manhattan. The incident occurred by the West Side Highway on Wednesday afternoon.

After pulling off of the bike path, Sapiov crashed the truck into a school bus. He then exited the vehicle with “imitation firearms.” Witness accounts say that Sapiov was yelling “Allahu Akbar” as he exited the vehicle. According to the NYPD, he was then shot in the abdomen by police.

“It amazes me how heartless these [terrorists] can be,” Eli Corenthal ’19 said. “The fact that [Sapiov’s] attack on a day such as Halloween, when children are out trick or treating, just breaks my heart.”

According to CNN.com, there was a note found next to the truck saying that the attack was made in the name of ISIS. However, ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attack. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is taking the lead in the investigation.

According to CNN, Sapiov is a 29 year old from Uzbekistan who legally immigrated to the US in 2010. An address in Tampa, Florida is linked to his name, and investigators are looking into a possible connection in New Jersey, where the truck was rented.

“I’m always devastated to hear about these attacks,” Dylan Honig ’19 said. “It’s very frustrating that innocent people have to die in these horrifying attacks.”

President Trump responded to the incident with a tweet, saying “…NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person.”