US media identified the suspect as Sayfullo Saipov, seen in this 2016 photo
Sayfullo Saipov, the man named by officials as the suspect in Tuesday’s New York truck attack that killed eight people and injured 12, arrived in the US from Uzbekistan in 2010 and is married with three children.
A legal permanent resident of the US, he won his citizenship through a lottery programme that grants green cards annually to foreign nationals, in an effort to diversify the country’s immigrant population.
Mr Saipov is likely to have carried out the attack in line with instructions posted online by the so-called Islamic State, according to John Miller, deputy commissioner for the New York Police Department.
Speaking to the BBC, US-based Uzbek religious activist and blogger Mirrakhmat Muminov, who met Mr Saipov in Ohio soon after he arrived in the US, said the suspect was radicalised online and had become increasingly aggressive.
“He was not well educated and had no knowledge of the Koran before arriving in the US,” he said.
“At the beginning of his time here he was a normal sort of person.”
But Mr Muminov said that Mr Saipov became depressed, separated from his community and more resentful and angry after failing to find work as a driver.
“Because of his radical views he frequently used to argue with other Uzbeks and moved to Florida,” Mr Muminov said. “From then onwards I lost contact with him.”
Early investigations suggested that he had been planning the attack for some weeks, Mr Miller told reporters, and had never been the subject of an NYPD or FBI intelligence investigation.
According to a New York Times report citing three officials, the suspect had previously come to the attention of federal authorities via an unrelated probe.
The back patio of the apartment building in Florida where Sayfullo Saipov was a resident
Born in Uzbekistan in February 1988, Mr Saipov emigrated to the US in 2010 after winning a spot via the lottery and is believed to have lived in Ohio, Florida, and New Jersey since.
Mr Muminov said there were about 70,000 people from Uzbekistan now living in the US, with the overwhelming majority in New York City but also smaller populations in Florida – mostly in Orlando – and in Chicago and Ohio.
According to the New York Times, Mr Saipov arrived in the country with a poor command of English and sought work as a truck and Uber taxi driver.
“He was a very good person when I knew him,” Uzbek immigrant Kobiljon Matkarov – who met Mr Saipov in Florida several years ago – told the newspaper.
“He liked the US. He seemed very lucky and all the time he was happy and talking like everything is OK. He did not seem like a terrorist, but I did not know him from the inside.”
Mr Saipov is reportedly expected to survive his bullet wounds, so investigators should have the opportunity to assess his alleged motives.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a press conference that the suspect had likely acted alone and that there was no evidence to suggest a wider plot.
“These are the actions of one individual meant to cause pain and harm and probably death,” Mr Cuomo said.
A note was found in the truck that referred to IS, officials have confirmed.
Other reports say that the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest” – when he emerged from his vehicle after the killings.
Mr Saipov is reported to have been living most recently in Paterson, New Jersey, about 40km (25 miles) north-west of the scene of the attack. The truck involved was rented from nearby Passaic, a former industrial hub just south of Paterson.
About 25,000 to 30,000 Muslims live in the city, the New York Times reported, giving it one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in the New York City area.
Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry is now reported to be checking whether Saipov is of Uzbek origin. The country has over the last 20 years taken a hard line against Islamic extremism.
President Trump has denounced the man who carried out the attack as “very sick” and a “deranged person”.
If Saipov’s Uzbek origins are confirmed, he will not be the first person from the Central Asian country to be accused of plotting terror attacks in the US. Last month a Brooklyn man of Uzbek origin was sentenced to 15 years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks, including threats to kill Barack Obama.
