Maine Man Pleads Guilty to New Year’s Eve Times Square Machete Attack, Faces 120 Years

A Maine man who traveled to Times Square on New Year's Eve and waged a machete attack against a trio of NYPD officers pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder.

Trevor Bickford, 20, of Wells, Maine, also pleaded guilty to three counts of assault of officers and employees of the U.S. government and persons assisting them, according to federal prosecutors. 

He faces up to 120 years in prison.

Bickford, then 19, “targeted the iconic yearly celebration to carry out brazen acts of violence and hatred in the name of jihad,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement, in part. 

In December 2022, he traveled from Maine to New York City to “wage jihad and kill as many of his targets as possible,” prosecutors said in a news release, citing court documents. 

Bickford targeted Times Square and declared “Allahu Akbar” — meaning “God is great” in Arabic — as he ambushed three NYPD officers with a machete. 

All three officers were seriously injured, but one officer managed to incapacitate the suspect by shooting him in the shoulder. 

“Bickford later declared that he carried out his attack to wage jihad and admitted that his goal was to kill as many military-aged men who worked for the U.S. government as he could before himself becoming a martyr," prosecutors said. 

Authorities said Bickford was radicalized after having spent months studying extremist Islamic ideology.

A book recovered from his backpack near the scene of the attack had the following passage highlighted: “Fight in the Name of Allah and in the Cause of Allah. Fight against those who do not believe in Allah. Wage a holy war.”