The NYC attacker asked to display an ISIS flag in his hospital room and planned to attack the Brooklyn Bridge
- Sayfullo Saipov, who is suspected of killing eight people in a terror attack in Manhattan on Tuesday, planned to continue the bloodshed by striking pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge, according to a criminal complaint.
- He also asked to display an ISIS flag in his hospital room.
- Saipov faces federal terrorism charges, as well as charges of violence and destruction of motor vehicles.
- Saipov waived his Miranda rights and spoke to authorities about the attack and his motivation behind it, the complaint said.
The man who allegedly killed eight people on Tuesday in the worst terror attack New York City has seen since 9/11 had planned to continue his rampage down the West Side Highway and onto the Brooklyn Bridge, according to a criminal complaint released Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors charged Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan, with providing support to the terrorist group ISIS. He is also facing charges of violence and destruction of motor vehicles.
Saipov, who is in police custody and recovering from his injuries at Bellevue Hospital, waived his Miranda rights verbally and spoke to law enforcement officials about the attack, the complaint said.
Saipov's original plan was to plow the rented truck into civilians near the West Side Highway and the drive on to the Brooklyn Bridge to continue the bloodshed. Saipov never made it to the Brooklyn Bridge as he crashed the truck into a school bus near the West Side Highway's bicycle path.
From there, Saipov exited the truck while yelling "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," and brandished a paintball gun and pellet gun. According to the complaint, Saipov also had a bag of knives, but left them in the truck before exiting.
He also admitted to writing the note found by authorities, which they said was written in Arabic and said the Islamic State would endure forever.
Saipov said he was was motivated to carry out the attack after watching a video featuring ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi asking what Muslims in the US were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq.
Saipov also told authorities he had intended to display the black-and-white ISIS flags in the front and rear of his truck, but eventually decided against it so as not to draw attention to himself.
The complaint also noted that Saipov had asked during his interview with authorities if he could display the ISIS flag in his hospital room. He told them that "he felt good about what he had done," the complaint said.