ORLANDO, Fla. – The man suspected of mowing down more than a dozen bicyclists and pedestrians in Manhattan, killing eight, has ties to Florida.
Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, 29, is from Uzbekistan in Central Asia, but he moved to the United States in 2010. Saipov used to live in Fort Myers and Tampa and had a Florida ID, records show. The Home Depot van that he rented and used in the attack also had Florida plates.
FBI agents visited the Tampa apartment complex where Saipov used to live.
Michael Roberts, 30, an overnight shift worker, said he was asleep when the agents showed up at about 5:30 p.m. Agents interviewed his cousin, but Roberts said they moved in a week ago and had never heard of Saipov.
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.
Saipov, who recently moved to New Jersey, ran down victims for several blocks on a bike path before he crashed into a school bus.
"It happened out of nowhere," a witness said. "I was walking down the street, it was a normal day and just out of nowhere I hear and see people. I see people running and screaming."
After crashing into the bus, Saipov started yelling "Allahu Akbar," which means God is great in Arabic, and waving guns, which turned out to be a paintball and pellet gun, authorities said.
"The driver of the truck exited the vehicle brandishing two handguns," an official said. "A uniformed police officer assigned to the first precinct confronted the subject and shot him in the abdomen. The subject was wounded and transported to a local hospital."
Officials said Saipov was a "lone wolf," but a note showing his commitment to ISIS was found in the truck.
"This is an act of terrorism, and a particularly cowardly act of terror," New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said.
Suspect planned attack for weeks 'to a T'
Police said Saipov had been planning the attack for weeks "in the name of ISIS."
Investigators questioned Sayfullo Saipov in his hospital bed, working to extract information about the attack that killed eight people Tuesday near the World Trade Center memorial. Saipov, 29, was shot by a police officer after jumping from his Home Depot pickup.
"He did this in the name of ISIS" and seems to have plotted it "for a number of weeks" and conducted reconnaissance, John Miller, deputy police commissioner for intelligence told the Associated Press. "He appears to have followed, almost exactly to a T, the instructions that ISIS has put out."
Saipov's history
Saipov was married on March 25, 2013, to another Uzbek, Nozima Odilova, when he was 25 and she was 19 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Neither had been married before.
Law enforcement sources said Saipov most recently lived in New Jersey. Neighbors in Paterson, a New Jersey city of 140,000 northeast of New York City, said he lived there recently.
For the past six months, he was an Uber driver. The company said he passed a background check but has now been removed from the app.
Saipov had multiple interactions with law enforcement in several states, online records show.
He had traffic citations issued in Missouri and Pennsylvania. He was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol in October 2016 after a warrant was issued when he failed to show in court for a misdemeanor offense. He paid a $200 bond, which he forfeited when he didn't show up in court for his next hearing in November. A guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
Uzbekistan ties
Authorities are sure to look at whether the suspect visited Uzbekistan since he moved to the United States seven years ago, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said.
"There has been a significant problem with jihadism in Uzbekistan," he said.
According to Cruickshank there are two large jihadi groups in the country. One of them is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is affiliated with ISIS.
In April, an Uzbek man was arrested after a truck attack killed five people in Stockholm.
Victims
Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter that five Argentine citizens were killed: Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi.
A Belgian national also was a victim of the attack, Didier Reynders, deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister for Belgium, said on Twitter.
Trump, officials respond
President Donald Trump tweeted that the incident "looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person." In a later tweet, he wrote, "My thoughts, condolences and prayers to the victims and families of the New York City terrorist attack. God and your country are with you!"
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed One World Trade Center to be lit in red, white and blue in honor of freedom and democracy, his office said.