8 dead in vehicle ramming attack in Manhattan.

Eight dead in a vehicle ramming attack in Manhattan, New York. New York Times. The attacker, identified as Sayfullo Saipov, plowed his truck through a large group of people using a bike path killing eight people and wounding eleven more before crashing into a school bus. He then ran out of his vehicle and began threatening people with a pellet gun and a paintball gun before being shot and captured by police. Saipov reportedly yelled "Allah Akbar" and had materials in his truck pledging allegiance to ISIS. Saipov was an immigrant from Uzbekistan. 

Police stand near a victim of the attack. New York Times/AP

In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017

My Comment:
Yet another terrorist attack committed by a Muslim who pledged allegiance to ISIS. The suspect was an immigrant from Uzbekistan. Some are making light of the fact that Uzbekistan isn't on Donald Trump's travel ban, but the ban never said anything about kicking out people that are already here.

It's too early to be sure if this was a lone wolf attack or if Saipov had help. I would say that a lone wolf attack looks more likely. This attack wasn't sophisticated at all. The attacker didn't have any firearms or explosives and it was all he could do just to get a truck and a couple of toy firearms. It's just another copycat attack of the extremely successful Nice attack. It obviously wasn't that successful, but ever since that attack happened, people realized how easy it is to kill large numbers of people with a vehicle.

Saipov was armed with toy guns, did the pellet gun and paintball gun pose a threat? I would say yes but not much of one. A pellet gun can injure or even kill someone if you hit someone in the right place. A paintball gun is less dangerous, but it could still put someone's eye out. The cops were more than justified for shooting Saipov, even if they knew that he only had toy guns. He was still a threat and could have used those guns to either injure someone or use them to hijack a vehicle. The police were right to shoot him because he could have continued his attack by using those toy guns.

Saipov picked a good target for his attack. A bike path is a fairly smart place to attack with a vehicle. Bike paths are narrow, so there isn't a great way to escape if the victims see you coming. And many of them won't because people tend to listen to music while biking. There are probably places in New York that have larger concentrations of people though. Most of them would likely be better guarded and the population would have more chances for escape and would be more aware of their surroundings.

I have to wonder if Saipov was targeting children. The attack occurred right as the local schools were letting out. I don't know the culture of New York City but I bet at least a few kids still ride their bikes home and could have been using that path. However, I doubt that the ramming of the school bus was something different. That was either a target of opportunity or the driver just losing control. Plus, ramming a school bus with a pickup truck isn't going to hurt the school bus. Had Saipov not rammed it he probably could have continued his attack.

If he was specifically targeting children than this attack was even more disgusting than most terrorist attacks. Even most terrorists won't stoop that low. But ISIS has a long history of attacking children, and it would not surprise me at all if Saipov was targeting them specifically.

Speaking of ISIS, even as they are defeated in Iraq and Syria, they can still inspire attacks like this. ISIS hasn't been able to pull off a professional terrorist attack in awhile but they have been able to inspire people to attack even as their propaganda outlets get shut down and marginalized. We should probably expect more attacks like this one as ISIS fades into the background. They may be essentially defeated on the battlefield, but they are still a force to be reckoned with. Even as ISIS dies, their ideology will live on...