Multiple People Dead After Truck Drives Down Bike Path In Lower Manhattan (Update)

By  Erik Shilling

Eight people are dead, and 11 injured, after a truck drove down a bike path in lower Manhattan, according to The New York Times.

The driver emerged "screaming," and was subsequently shot and taken into custody by police officers at the scene, said to be on the West Side Highway bike path on West Street a few blocks north of Chambers Street near the World Trade Center.

According to the AP, the driver was carrying two "imitation guns"; witnesses, meanwhile, reported hearing several shots fired, though it wasn't immediately clear whether those were shots fired by police or the suspect.

Reports from the scene were grim. From the AP:

A man who was riding in an Uber along the West Side Highway near the World Trade Center says he saw several bleeding people on the ground after a truck struck several people.

A witness says the truck had also collided with a small bus and one other vehicle.

[...]

An Associated Press photographer on the scene Tuesday witnessed at least two bodies lying motionless on the path beneath tarps.

The New York Daily News has some more:

Eyewitness Eugene Duff, 44, said he saw the white Home Depot truck run down a pair of CitiBike riders as the driver sped along the busy path off the Hudson River.

There were visible tire tracks on the bodies of the two victims as the truck continued to carve a path of carnage through the neighborhood, he said.

We'll update this post as more details emerge.

Update, 5:34 p.m.: In an update, the Associated Press, wrote Tuesday evening that witnesses told them it was a truck, not a van, as police officials had said previously. Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter that the incident was a "cowardly act of terror" that was intended to "break our spirit."

Update, 5:48 p.m.: Video obtained by ABC News appears to show the suspect running through traffic.

The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that the driver managed to go 20 blocks on the bike path before crashing and jumping out of the truck. Authorities are treating it as a terror attack, the NYT reported, with federal law enforcement officials taking the lead in the investigation.

Two law enforcement officials said that after the attacker got out of the truck, he was heard yelling, "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great."

Update, 8:43 p.m.: Officials have identified the driver as Sayfullo Saipov, 29.

From the NYT:

Mr. Saipov came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010, and had a green card that allowed permanent legal residence. He had apparently lived in Paterson, N.J., and Tampa, Fla. An official said he rented the truck from Home Depot in New Jersey.

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