The young Uzbek immigrant arrived in the United States seven years ago, moving frequently as he built a family, made a living driving trucks and cars, and raised little suspicion from law enforcement.
But at some point, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov apparently developed a fascination with ISIS. That, investigators now believe, may have motivated him to commit the deadliest terror attack in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.
On Tuesday, Saipov, a 29-year-old married father with nothing more than traffic violations on his criminal record, rented a pickup truck at a Home Depot in northern New Jersey, headed over the George Washington Bridge, and then drove south into lower Manhattan, where he allegedly mowed down people on a bike path, killing eight. He allegedly crashed into a school bus, jumped out of the truck holding two imitation guns, and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is Great,” before a NYPD officer shot him.
In the rental truck, authorities retrieved a note that, translated to English, said, “ISIS Lives Forever,” according to a senior official briefed on the investigation. Questioned in a New York hospital, where he is recovering from a bullet wound to his abdomen, Saipov showed no remorse, and actually seemed proud of what he’d allegedly done, the official said.
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At this point, police and local officials say it appears that Saipov acted alone. But investigators are still trying to piece together his journey from Uzbekistan to the crime scene, and in doing so determine whether anyone helped him, and if he had ties to ISIS or other terrorist organizations ─ or was simply inspired by them.
Authorities say Saipov’s online history indicates that he consumed ISIS propaganda, the senior official said. But the senior official said Saipov was not subject of any active terrorist investigations.
Some answers may come from his wife, who was tracked down in Paterson, New Jersey and has met with authorities, the official said. She has been initially cooperative and has denied any knowledge of the attack before it happened, law enforcement officials said.
Fellow Uzbek immigrants who came to know Saipov said he didn’t seem to be the kind of man who would do such a thing.
“He liked the U.S. He is no terrorist,” said Kobiljon Matkarov, who said he met Saipov four or five years ago, when they both lived in Florida.
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Bekhzod Abdusamatov, whose parents took Saipov into their Cincinnati home when he first arrived in the United States in 2010, said he didn’t seem unusual at the time: he was polite, spent a lot of time out of the house, and moved away after a few weeks.
“I was shocked. I never would’ve imagined something like this. I never would’ve thought this guy would do something violent,” Abdusamatov said.
Saipov arrived in the United States under a “Diversity Visa Lottery Program,” President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. Two senior U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that the suspect was accepted into the program, which, according to the State Department, allows the arrival of a limited number of applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
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Saipov’s travels from there aren’t entirely clear. But records indicate that within months he obtained a commercial truck license, first in New Jersey, and then in Florida. He also registered two automobile-related businesses in Ohio, one at the Cincinnati address of Abdusamatov’s family, and another in Cuyahoga Falls.
In 2013, he married Nozima Odilova, according to records in Ohio. Both listed their birthplace as Tashkant, Uzbekistan.
While driving a truck, Saipov was cited several times for traffic violations ─ in Maryland in 2011, in Pennsylvania in 2012 and 2015, and in Missouri in 2016. In the Pennsylvania cases, he was listed as living in Paterson, and in the Missouri case his home was said to be in Tampa, Florida. His commercial driver’s license, issued in 2015, lists a Tampa address.
He was arrested in Missouri for not appearing in court on a charge of failure to maintain his truck’s brake system, a misdemeanor for which he was given a $129.50 fine, according to records and local officials.
At some point recently, Saipov began driving for Uber, passing a background test. Matkarov said Saipov was working for Uber and living in New Jersey with a couple of children when they last saw each other five or six months ago.
That was when Saipov gave Matkarov a ride to a New York-area airport. Matkarov said he got no sense that Saipov was nurturing a tendency for violence.
“He’s all the time happy, smiling all the time,” Matkarov said.