A man accused of attacking three NYPD officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year's Eve is set to face trial in March, according to federal prosecutors.

Trevor Bickford, a resident of Wells, Maine, will appear in court on March 18, 2024, to face multiple charges including four counts of attempted murder of officers and employees of the U.S. government and persons assisting them.


What You Need To Know

  • Trevor Bickford is accused of attacking three police officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year's Eve 

  • Bickford, who was 19 at the time of the attack, was allegedly motivated by Islamic extremism

  • A federal trial has been set for March 18, 2024

Bickford is accused of approaching three officers at a security checkpoint near 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue just after 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Prosecutors previously said he chanted "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - and stabbed and struck the officers in the head with a one-foot-long blade. All three officers were hospitalized.

Prosecutors said Bickford attempted to take a firearm from an officer before another officer shot him in the shoulder. After being wounded, he was taken into NYPD custody.

Investigators believe Bickford allegedly became radicalized during the summer in 2022, reading radical Islamic literature that promoted the Taliban and the teachings of Abu Muhammed al-Maqdisi, an alleged “spiritual mentor” of al-Qaida.

In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York sent shortly after the attack, prosecutors said Bickford had planned to travel to Afghanistan to work with the Taliban. He also allegedly told a family member that he hoped to become a suicide bomber.

In a statement earlier this year, the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Bickford, said he “is just a teenager” and “has no prior contact with the criminal legal system.”

Bickford also faces charges in New York state court, including attempted murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and aggravated assault on a police officer as a crime of terrorism.