Horror on Halloween

On October 31, 2017 eight victims lost their lives and eleven were injured because of a senseless terror attack in Lower Manhattan.  Sayfullo Saipov used a Home Depot truck to run over bikers and pedestrians on a bike path that followed the River. The last parts of the attack unfolded in front of Stuyvesant High School when Sayfullo Saipov crashed his truck into a school bus.  Many of the witnesses of the attack became young children waiting to be picked from school. When Sayfullo Saipov jumped out of the truck and began waving guns, shouts of “run” and “shooter” spread through the terrified crowd. Many eyewitnesses claimed that they first thought the attack was simply a Halloween prank. Sayfullo Saipov was then struck by a police officer’s bullet that left him in critical condition on Tuesday night.

Mayor Bill de Blasio officially announced that the rampage was being investigated by the FBI as a terrorist attack. Police are now saying that Sayfullo Saipov was inspired by ISIS but was not directly affiliated with them. He moved to the United States in 2010 from Uzbekistan, legally, under a green card. Since the attack is an ongoing investigation many details of the attacker are yet to be confirmed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the eight victims of this horrendous attack, Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi and three others.