On January 1, 2023, three NYPD officers were injured in a machete attack in Time Square while the celebration for New Year’s Eve was going on. The attack occurred around 10 p.m. on Saturday at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, outside a Times Square New Year’s Eve security screening zone. The suspect was identified to be a nineteen-year-old man, Trevor Bickford.

Bickford approached an officer and attempted to knife him over the head with a machete. The suspect then struck two more officers before one fired his service weapon, hitting the suspect in the shoulder. The suspect was taken into custody.  “I want to be very clear … there is no ongoing threat,” said Mike Driscoll, the FBI assistant director in charge of the New York field office. One officer suffered a skull fracture and a large laceration to his head. Another officer who was an eight-year veteran suffered from a laceration to the head as well. The third officer did not elaborate on injuries. Driscoll said the FBI, through the task force, is working closely with the NYPD to determine the nature of the attack and “will run every lead to the ground.” The authorities did not elaborate on a possible motive and said the investigation is in the preliminary stages. New York Mayor Eric Adams praised the police response, saying responding officers immediately secured the scene and acted “with a level of professionalism that we expect from all of our officers.”After getting their fellow officer’s assistance and subduing the suspect, responding officers returned to their posts “because we still had a city we had to protect,” Adams said, referencing New Year’s Eve celebrations. 

The three injured officers were taken to Bellevue. All three officers were released from the hospital on Sunday. “While a motive remains under investigation, authorities are not ruling out the possibility that the suspect came to New York City specifically to attack police officers at the Times Square ball drop, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Multiple law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Trevor Bickford, 19, of Wells, Maine. He took an Amtrak train to New York City on Dec. 29, the sources said. Federal and local law enforcement investigators are combing through the suspect’s online postings, which indicate recent extremist Islamic radicalization, the sources said. Bickford has no prior arrests. His mother and aunt notified law enforcement in recent weeks about their concerns that he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies, the sources said. The report prompted the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to look into the suspect, the law enforcement sources said.”