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Hatchet assault on New York police comes during fears of Islamist attacks
A bloodied steel hatchet lay on a rainy Queens sidewalk on Thursday like an ominous question mark. Was the bearded man who used it to wound two New York City police officers motivated by radical Islam?
Zale H. Thompson can no longer answer that question. He is dead, stopped by bullets from the guns of two other officers.
His unprovoked attack on four policemen, which injured one critically in the head and sliced the other in the shoulder, was certain suicide.
A chain of attacks and plots in rapid succession in the Western world by assailants with a radical interpretation of Islam have raised suspicion that Thompson's attack could be the latest link.
Though police say they have no concrete reason to suspect that so far in the ongoing investigation, there is a bad sign.
And there are uncomfortable commonalities with other Islamist attacks that have law enforcement in New York and Washington on high alert.
On a Facebook page bearing Thompson's name, a warrior masked in a head and face scarf and armed with spear, sword and rifle gazes out at the beholder. The vintage black and white photo is the profile picture of the user, who lives in Queens.
A Quran quote in classic Arabic calligraphy mentioning judgment against those who have wandered astray serves as the page's banner.
Some of the user's Facebook friends posted articles about Thompson's attack and death, referring to him by name and linking back to the Facebook page.
Thompson has been in trouble with the law before. He had a criminal record in California, a law enforcement official said, and the Navy discharged him for disorderly conduct.
Target: Men in uniform
Thompson's attack is the third on people in uniform in North America in a week.
ISIS, the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, has recently called to sympathizers in the West to carry out attacks against men and women in uniform.
Two attackers touting radical Islam, in separate incidents, killed two men in uniform in Canada this week. Officers shot them both dead.
On Monday, a radical convert ran down two soldiers in his car, killing one of them. Martin Rouleau Couture, 25, then led police on a chase before his car rolled into a ditch in the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal.
He exited the car, and police opened fire on him.
On Thursday, radical Islamist convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, shot and killed soldier Nathan Cirillo, who was standing guard at a veteran's memorial in the capital Ottawa, then Bibeau stormed parliament and opened fire.
Sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers and police officers fired dozens of rounds, killing Zehaf-Bibeau, who had worn a scarf on his head.
A bloodied steel hatchet lay on a rainy Queens sidewalk on Thursday like an ominous question mark. Was the bearded man who used it to wound two New York City police officers motivated by radical Islam?
Zale H. Thompson can no longer answer that question. He is dead, stopped by bullets from the guns of two other officers.
His unprovoked attack on four policemen, which injured one critically in the head and sliced the other in the shoulder, was certain suicide.
A chain of attacks and plots in rapid succession in the Western world by assailants with a radical interpretation of Islam have raised suspicion that Thompson's attack could be the latest link.
Though police say they have no concrete reason to suspect that so far in the ongoing investigation, there is a bad sign.
And there are uncomfortable commonalities with other Islamist attacks that have law enforcement in New York and Washington on high alert.
On a Facebook page bearing Thompson's name, a warrior masked in a head and face scarf and armed with spear, sword and rifle gazes out at the beholder. The vintage black and white photo is the profile picture of the user, who lives in Queens.
A Quran quote in classic Arabic calligraphy mentioning judgment against those who have wandered astray serves as the page's banner.
Some of the user's Facebook friends posted articles about Thompson's attack and death, referring to him by name and linking back to the Facebook page.
Thompson has been in trouble with the law before. He had a criminal record in California, a law enforcement official said, and the Navy discharged him for disorderly conduct.
Target: Men in uniform
Thompson's attack is the third on people in uniform in North America in a week.
ISIS, the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, has recently called to sympathizers in the West to carry out attacks against men and women in uniform.
Two attackers touting radical Islam, in separate incidents, killed two men in uniform in Canada this week. Officers shot them both dead.
On Monday, a radical convert ran down two soldiers in his car, killing one of them. Martin Rouleau Couture, 25, then led police on a chase before his car rolled into a ditch in the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal.
He exited the car, and police opened fire on him.
On Thursday, radical Islamist convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, shot and killed soldier Nathan Cirillo, who was standing guard at a veteran's memorial in the capital Ottawa, then Bibeau stormed parliament and opened fire.
Sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers and police officers fired dozens of rounds, killing Zehaf-Bibeau, who had worn a scarf on his head.
