The suspect in the Oct. 23 hatchet attack on two New York City cops had been searching online for jihadist propaganda and foreign terror organizations — as well as information on martyrdom and suicide bombings — in the weeks leading up to the assault, according to a city counterterrorism bureau intelligence assessment obtained by Fox News.
While initial reporting from unnamed sources suggested Zale Thompson may have been motivated by anti-government or black power sentiments, the four-page document provides new details that speak to Thompson’s self-radicalization. They show his online obsession with the “message” of terror groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
The intelligence assessment, further, said he “may have held a long-standing interest in violent jihad.”
“A preliminary analysis by the NYPD of approximately 277 online search terms by Zale Thompson in the weeks leading up to the attack revealed multiple references to ‘jihadist’ materials,” the assessment states. “Thompson used internet search engines to query specific terms including but not limited to ‘lone wolf,’ ‘jihad,’ and ‘jihad against the police’.”
The investigation is ongoing, and the report says “there is no evidence that Thompson conspired with other individuals to carry out the attack” — but it adds that his Internet searches were focused on known terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, its affiliate in Somalia known as al-Shabaab, and the Islamic State. It also documents 58 search terms from Thompson’s electronic records that range from “jihad against the infidels” to “fatwa against americans” to “death to America in Arabic.”
The search history with terms such as “is Saudi Arabia a member of the United Nations” and “Saudi Arabic 69th general assembly un” also suggests Thompson may have considered targeting the annual U.N. conference and Saudi dignitaries.
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