NYC Suspect Sayfullo Saipov Tied To ISIS, Radicalized In US: Gov

NEW YORK, NY – The suspected terrorist police say sped a truck down a Tribeca cycle path, leaving at least eight dead in his wake, is "associated with ISIS," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

The man, named by several law enforcement sources as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, is an immigrant from Uzbekistan who moved legally to the U.S. in 2010. Cuomo said on CNN that Saipov was "radicalized domestically."

The Department of Homeland Security interviewed him because he was a "point of contact" for two men on a counterterrorism watch list, according to ABC News. The FBI said Wednesday he'd never been the focus on an investigation himself.

Saipov, who reportedly had connections with Florida and New Jersey, worked as a driver for the ride-sharing company Uber, the company confirmed on Tuesday night. He made more than 1,400 trips with Uber and formed two commercial truck businesses.

"We are horrified by this senseless act of violence," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. "Our hearts are with the victims and their families. We have reached out to law enforcement to provide our full assistance."

Watch: New York City Bike Path Attack Suspect Investigated

Saipov reportedly passed a background check before beginning to drive with Uber, and sources with the company say that no concerning safety reports have been surfaced during a review of his driving history with the company.

Saipov legally immigrated to the U.S. in 2010. He settled in Stow, Ohio, where he worked as a truck driver, sources said.

Mirrakhmat Muminov, 38, of Stow said he knew Saipov because they were both Uzbek truck drivers. He portrayed Saipov as an argumentative young man whose work was falling apart and who "was not happy with his life."

Muminov said Saipov lost his insurance on his truck after his rates shot up because of a few traffic tickets, and companies stopped hiring him. Muminov said he heard from Saipov's friends that Saipov's truck engine blew up a few months ago in New Jersey.

Muminov said Saipov would get into arguments with his friends and family, tangling over even small things, such as going to a picnic with the Uzbek community.

"He had the habit of disagreeing with everybody. He was never part of the community. He was always alone, no respect for elders, no respect for community," Muminov said.

He said he and Saipov would sometimes argue about politics and world affairs, including about Israel and Palestine. He said Saipov never spoke about ISIS, but he could tell he held radical views.

"He always used to work," Dilnoza Abdusamatova, whom Saipov briefly stayed with after immigrating, told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "He wouldn't go to parties or anything. He only used to come home and rest and leave and go back to work."

Saipov married a woman named Nozima Odilova in 2013 in Summit County, Ohio, according to a marriage license filed there. Odilova, who is six years younger and said she was from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, like Saipov, is cooperating with investigators and denied knowledge of the attack, sources told NBC News.

Read more: Terror In Tribeca: 8 Dead As Truck Plows Down Bike Lane

Saipov later moved to Tampa, Florida, and is also thought to have connections with New Jersey. The sources said he racked up at least four traffic tickets since arriving in the U.S. – two in Missouri and two in Pennsylvania, and gave an address in Paterson, New Jersey, for two of those.

The sources said the rented pickup truck that was used in Tuesday's attack came from a New Jersey Home Depot. A Florida ID was found in the truck. The sources said staff at the Home Depot were cooperating with them.

FBI agents are also at his addresses in Tampa and Stow, the sources said. Agents on Tuesday reportedly interviewed residents of the Florida apartment complex where Saipov lived.

The Department of Homeland Security says the Saipov in the New York City truck attack entered the United States in 2010 under the diversity visa program, which covers immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S.

That's the immigration program that President Donald Trump is calling on Congress to eliminate "as soon as possible." The president says the program is "not good," and says the U.S. needs to "get much tougher."

He called the program that allowed the suspect to enter the country “a Chuck Schumer beauty.” It became law under President George W. Bush.

A friend who met Saipov in Florida, Kobiljon Matkarov, told The New York Times and the New York Post that he seemed like a "very good guy."

"My kids like him too. He is always playing with them," Matkarov told the Post.

After the attack, Trump derided the suspect as "sick and deranged."

This post has been updated throughout with additional information.

Reporting by Colin Miner/Patch and The Associated Press

Lead image: Undated photo provided by St. Charles County Department of Corrections via KMOV shows Sayfullo Saipov. (St. Charles County Department of Corrections/KMOV via AP)