NYC Terror Suspect Sayfullo Saipov Was Radicalized In US: Report

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — New York City terror attack suspect Sayfullo Saipov was "radicalized domestically," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday morning.

Saipov was "associated with ISIS" and is a "depraved coward, Cuomo said on CNN's "New Day."

Cuomo also told the network that Saipov became "informed about ISIS and radical Islamic attacks," after he came to the United States in 2010.

Investigators found a note inside the Home Depot truck that Saipov reportedly used to kill eight people and injure. Saipov declared his allegiance to the Islamic State in the note, the Washington Post reported. Authorities also found knives in the truck, CBS News report.

Authorities converged on two Paterson locations and a Home Depot store in Passaic Tuesday night in connection with Sayfullo Saipov's terror attack in New York City that killed at least eight people and injured 15.

Saipov reportedly lived in Paterson at one point and rented the truck used in the attack from a Home Depot store in Passaic, according to reports.

Saipov used to live in Tampa, Florida, according to reports. CBS News reported that a former neighbor said he and his family moved to New Jersey a year ago.

Saipov lived in a tw0-bedroom apartment at 168 Genesee Ave. recently with his wife and young kids, Sulfe Catto, the apartment building's manager told NorthJersey.com Tuesday night. Catto said in the report that he saw Saipov "very infrequently."

On Tuesday night, police had surrounded a mosque and Saipov's apartment building in connection with the investigation, NJ.com reported. The FBI took a trash bag from the building Wednesday morning, NorthJersey.com reported.

Police still had Genesee Avenue blocked off Wednesday morning. A neighbor told NorthJersey.com that Saipov is "an animal. A human doesn't do these things."

Saipov reportedly bragged about attack and authorities knives recovered from vehicle, wrote support for ISIS on 10-15 pieces of paper

Passaic County Sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer referred a reporter to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. No one from the prosecutor's office could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night. Paterson Department of Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale could also not be reached for comment.

Watch: New York City Bike Path Attack Suspect Investigated

Saipov reportedly gave police a Paterson address when he was was stopped in 2012 in Palmyra, Pennsylvania in 2012 and again in 2015 when police stopped him in Mount Holly Springs Borough, Pennsylvania, according to an NJ.com report.

A woman who lives in the building Saipov reportedly lived at told NJ.com that she had never seen Saipov there but recalled seeing his name on a piece of mail, the report said.

Saipov is originally from Uzbekistan and arrived in the United States in 2010, CBS news reports. The Associated Press reported that he had a Florida driver's license.

The New York City Police Department said he drove a rented pickup truck onto the bike path on West Street a few blocks north of Chambers Street shortly after 3 p.m. and drove down it, hitting multiple people, Patch previously reported.

Officer Ryan Nash, a five-year veteran of the NYPD assigned to the First Precinct, shot Saipov in the abdomen.

Saipov rented the truck from a New Jersey Home Depot store in Passaic two hours before the attack, NBC4 reported.

Home Depot spokesman Matt Marrigan confirmed that the truck was from Home Depot, but declined to say what store it was rented from and said the company is "fully cooperating" with authorities to assist them in their investigation. Several media outlets reported that the truck was rented from a Home Depot store in Passaic.

Passaic city and Passaic County police officers were at the store Tuesday night, NorthJersey.com reported. About 12 parking spaces where a white Toyota Sienna was parked were blocked off at the store, according to the report.

Saipov is expected to survive and investigators will, most likely, question him about his motive for the attack, according to the Washington Post report. He was a "lone wolf" and carried out the attack alone after he was inspired by, but did not take orders from, the Islamic State, according to the report.

Saipov is expected to survive, meaning investigators will likely have a chance to question him about his motive for the attack, but so far, they said, he appears to have been a “lone wolf’’ suspect – someone who acted alone after being inspired, but not directly instructed, by the Islamic State.

The truck crashed and the driver got out holding what appeared to be a two guns, sources said. Law enforcement authorities said the driver was yelling "Allahu Akbar!" — which means "God is great!" in Arabic.

Police said that a pellet gun and paintball gun were recovered at the scene. A joint terrorism task force has been set up to lead the investigation into the truck rampage.

ABC News spoke to an eyewitness who said he saw Saipov run toward a group of children with imitation firearms after he crashed a Home Depot truck into several people on a bike path in lower Manhattan.

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Patch editor Kathleen Culliton contributed to this report.

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)