Thursday, November 2, 2017

Bloodbath in NYC: Van driver runs down several people, shoots pedestrians, cops say not terror-related

OCTOBER 31, 2017 4:09 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER48 COMMENTS

It is not a terror-related incident, say police. Thus it may not be. Unfortunately, however, police the world over have an unfortunate pattern of denying that jihad terror attacks are terror attacks. Is that the case in this instance? Maybe. Maybe not. The larger problem is that the public is being misled on a consistent basis.

Last June, the Islamic State published a poster depicting an SUV driving over a heap of skulls and bearing the legend “Run Over Them Without Mercy.”

And the Islamic State issued this call in September 2014:

So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops of the tawaghit. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be….If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….

Does that mean this is an Islamic State jihad attack? Not at all. It only means that it could be, and we need officials to be honest.

“Bloodbath in downtown NYC after driver shoots pedestrians from his truck,” by Tina Moore and Daniel Prendergast, New York Post, October 31, 2017:

At least two people were fatally shot in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon by a gunman firing from his truck, police sources said.

The gunman, who is in police custody, shot at least six people at West Street and Chambers Street, which is near Stuyvesant High School, at 3:15 p.m.

“What happened was there was a car crash… he came out of one of the cars. He had two guns. He was running around Chambers and somebody started to chase him,” said a 14-year-old Stuyvesant student. “I heard four to six gunshots – everybody starts running.”…

“Police Respond to Reports of Possible Shooting in Lower Manhattan,” by Benjamin Mueller, New York Times, October 31, 2017:

A suspect had been taken into custody after police officers in New York City responded on Tuesday afternoon to reports of a shooting or vehicle collision in Lower Manhattan, the authorities said.

Initial reports said a van on the bike path had run down several people. At one point shots may have been fired, but it was not clear who had fired them. A law enforcement official said there were reports that several people were dead.

A video posted to social media showed bodies and bicycles on a bicycle path near Chambers and West Streets by Stuyvesant High School. Some people were being treated for injuries near a mangled school bus.

Police officers, including the bomb squad, responded to the scene and several nearby buildings, including Stuyvesant, were placed on lockdown, with those inside told to take shelter.

The Fire Department said officials responded just after 3 p.m. to reports of a mass casualty at Chambers and West Streets….