NY governor: ‘No evidence’ terror attack part of larger plot

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Wednesday morning that there’s still no evidence that Tuesday’s terror attack in lower Manhattan was part of a wider network or plan of attacks.

In an interview with “CBS This Morning,” Cuomo said that “there’s no evidence now” that the suspect in the truck attack that killed eight people “was part of a larger conspiracy [or a] larger plot.”

“The investigation is ongoing,” Cuomo said, “[but] the best evidence we have is that he was, quote-unquote a ‘lone wolf’ model. They’re going through social media to see what connections he may have had. There are very few interactions with law enforcement; he was a truck driver.”

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Eight people were killed and several others were injured when a rented Home Depot truck ran off the road onto a pedestrian bike path in lower Manhattan Tuesday.

Cuomo said that the suspect, 29-year-old truck driver Sayfullo Saipov, had a previous interaction with local police in New York state when they helped him get his truck out of a ditch, but had a clean record other than minor traffic violations.

Saipov was shot by police and taken to a nearby hospital after exiting the vehicle with “imitation firearms,” according to multiple news reports.

“He had some vehicular violations, state police actually helped him get his truck out of a ditch at one time,” Cuomo said. “But there’s no evidence now that it was part of a larger conspiracy, larger plot.”

Cuomo called Tuesday’s attack an “evolution” of the tactics known to be used by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and other radical Islamist terror organizations.

“This is the evolution of the jihad tactics. It’s no longer geographically isolated — the internet has given them a global platform,” Cuomo added. “They have a very simple play: Rent a car, rent a truck, create mayhem. And try to disrupt society. And that’s what yesterday was.”