Hatchet attack on a New York police officer was an act of terrorism

Police commissioner Bill Bratton of NYPD has confirmed that the hatchet attack on a New York rookie police officers was an act of terrorism that had been carried out by a self-radicalized, 32-year-old loner nzherald.co.nz. He had converted to Islam a couple of years back.

The rookie officer 25-year-old Kenneth Healy is in hospital in a critical but stable condition – he was injured in the back of the head during the attack in broad daylight. It happened in a busy shopping area of Queens.
The attack was of seven seconds duration and Zale Thompson, the attacker, charged with a hatchet in his hand – he struck two officers before being shot dead by the two other officers. Incidentally, an innocent bystander, a 29-year-old female, was accidentally shot and is also in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

The attacker does not have any police record in New York but had been arrested six times in California in 2003-04. Incidentally, he had spent three years in the military but was involuntarily discharged in 2003 – probably due to drugs.