Times Square machete attack suspect indicted on terrorism charges

Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old accused of attacking New York Police Department officers with a machete on New Year's Eve, was indicted Friday on more than a dozen charges, including several terrorism charges, prosecutors announced.

Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old accused of attacking New York Police Department officers with a machete on New Year's Eve, was indicted Friday on more than a dozen charges, including several terrorism charges, prosecutors announced.

Bickford now faces three counts of attempted murder in the first degree, as well as three counts of attempted murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism, one count of assault in the first degree as a crime of terrorism, one count of aggravated assault on a police officer as a crime of terrorism, two counts of attempted assault in the first degree as a crime of terrorism, and several other charges related to assault and attempted assault.

"We are grateful for our NYPD officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, as well as our Joint Terrorism Task Force partners," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Friday evening.

"All eyes are on Times Square on New Year's Eve and these charges reflect the seriousness of this alleged threat to the safety of our city and our officers," Bragg added.

Rosemary Vassallo-Vellucci, Bickford's attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said Wednesday her client should be presumed innocent.

Bickford allegedly went to the Times Square checkpoint just after 10 p.m., authorities said. At the security area, he allegedly pulled out a machete, struck one officer with the blade and another officer in the head with the handle, and then swung the blade at a third officer, who shot Bickford in the shoulder, according to law enforcement sources and the NYPD.

The three officers were hospitalized in stable condition and released, the department previously said.