Mayor To NYC Terror Suspect: 'Rot In Prison'

TRIBECA, NY — The suspected terrorist who killed eight people on a Tribeca bike path Tuesday is "an enemy of New York City" who "should rot in prison for the rest of his life," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

The mayor had strong words for Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old who ran down pedestrians and cyclists on the Hudson River Greenway in the city's deadliest terror attack since 9/11.

De Blasio's stance differs slightly from President Donald Trump's, who tweeted Wednesday that Saipov should get the death penalty for the Islamic State-inspired attack. He faces federal charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization and violence and destruction of a motor vehicle.

"I'm not someone who believes in the death penalty in general, I just don't," de Blasio said Thursday outside Stuyvesant High School, about a block from where Saipov crashed his truck into a school bus. "I believe this is an individual who should rot in prison for the rest of his life."

The NYPD and FBI are still investigating Saipov's path to the attack. Evidence so far suggests he acted alone and became radicalized after moving to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010, NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller told CBS This Morning.

Watch: New York City Terror Victims Remembered In Home Countries

"At this point we don't see anything that leads us to believe there's anyone else was involved," Miller told CBS on Thursday.

Saipov's attack closely followed the Islamic State's instructions for killing civilians with a large truck, law enforcement officials say. He appeared to have no remorse for the killings, telling investigators that he "felt good about what he had done," according to a criminal complaint in his federal case.

The Islamic State group has not claimed credit for the attack, which also injured a dozen people.

"I consider the suspect an enemy of New York City," de Blasio said, "someone who did great harm to the people of this city."

According to the criminal complaint, investigators found two cellphones in the rented Home Depot truck, one of which contained about 90 videos of Islamic State propaganda. They included footage of a beheading and instructions for making a bomb.

Saipov had planned the attack for about a year and practiced driving the truck about a week before, the criminal complaint says. He did it on Halloween because he thought more people would be out, the complaint says.

De Blasio and city schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña toured the elite Stuyvesant High School Thursday morning, talking with teachers, guidance counselors and students. Some students there saw the truck and heard the police gunshots that wounded Saipov, de Blasio said.

The mayor visited an Advanced Placement government class and said the students' resilience inspired him. Many students at the four schools near the attack site went to class the next day, Fariña said.

"They thought it was important to be at school the next day to mourn those who had been lost and to show that terror would not stop us," de Blasio said.

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks outside Stuyvesant High School in Tribeca on Thursday. Photo by Noah Manskar)