New York City truck attack: what we know

Eight people died in a terror attack on the streets of New York City Tuesday.

A man drove a pickup truck down a riverfront bike path Tuesday afternoon, mowing down people along the way.

That man has been identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, and officials said he came to the United States legally from Uzbekistan in 2010.

We're now learning more about the victims. Six died on scene and two were pronounced dead at the hospital. Five of the deceased were Argentinian, and one was a Belgian national.

There's no word yet on how many injured people are still in the hospital.

Here's what we know happened:

Police say Saipov rented a pickup truck in New Jersey and began driving southbound on the West Side Highway bike path. He drove for 16 blocks, running over bikers, joggers and pedestrians while horrified witnesses watched on.

The attack came to end when the 29-year-old crashed into a school bus, injuring four people on board.

He exited his truck with two weapons, which turned out to be a paintball gun and a BB gun. That's when police shot him in the abdomen, but he survived and underwent surgery Tuesday night.

Police did question him before he went in.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling this a particularly cowardly act of terror.

"We know that this action was intended to break our spirit, but we also know New Yorkers are strong, New Yorkers are resilient, and our spirit will never be moved by an act of violence, an act meant to intimidate us," he said.

Officials say Saipov came to the US from Uzbekistan in 2010. He married his wife in 2013 in Ohio.

He had worked as a truck driver, and we're also learning now he had also worked as an Uber driver in New Jersey.

This is the deadliest terror attack in New York City since 9/11 but Mayor De Blasio says this will not break New York's spirit.

Governor Andrew Cuomo directed One World Trade Center to be lit in red, white, and blue in honor of freedom and democracy, and in a similar fashion, the Empire State Building was lit up in the same colors, in a show of solidarity.

Source:AFP