New York City terror attack suspect has businesses in Ohio

NEW YORK — A man accused of driving a rented pickup truck onto a crowded bicycle path Tuesday afternoon and killing eight people in Manhattan has Ohio ties.

The suspect was identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, a Tampa, Florida, man who arrived in the U.S. in 2010 from Uzbekestan.

Saipov has two active business licenses in Ohio, one in Symmes Township in suburban Cincinnati. The license for Sayf Motors Inc. was granted in May 2011. A second one, Bright Auto LLC, was granted in 2013 in Stow, according to Ohio Secretary of State records.

A public records search also found that Saipov had an address listed from October through November 2015 at an Americana Drive apartment in Cuyahoga Falls.

The Washington Post reported that Dilnoza Abdusamatova, 24, said Saipov stayed with her family in Cincinnati for his first two weeks in the country because their fathers were friends. She said he moved to Florida, started a trucking company there and got married before he cut off contact with them, the Post reported.

Police shot Saipov after he jumped out of the truck with what turned out to be fake guns in each hand and yelled Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic.

Six people were killed at the scene and two others died at a local hospital of the attack reported at 3:05 p.m. Nearly a dozen more suffered injuries that are described as not life-threatening.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called it a “cowardly act of terror.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the attack appeared to be a “lone wolf” incident, reported at 3:05 p.m. at West and Chambers street near the World Trade Center and memorial.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will lead the investigation.

Cox Media Group