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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton Provide an Update on the Assault of Two Police Officers

October 24, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon everyone.

It's been a tough 24 hours in New York City. A lot's been thrown at us. A lot's been thrown at the NYPD. But, as usual, the NYPD is ready for any and all situations and has handled the events in the last 24 hours with tremendous capability and professionalism.

We had an attack. You'll hear the details from Commissioner Bratton and his team. We had a vicious attack by an individual – obviously, a very troubled individual – on some of our police officers. Thank God our officers are well trained, understand exactly what to do in each situation.

Even though four of our rookie cops, just months out of the Police Academy, were the target of this attack. They responded with bravery, they responded with professionalism, and neutralized the assailant immediately. But two of our officers were hurt and they are very much on our minds right now. In particular Officer Kenneth Healey, again, a rookie cop just starting out his career, on the job, serving the people of this city. He was attacked, taken to the hospital, continues to be in critical, but stable, condition.

Commissioner Bratton and I met with Officer Healey's family and expressed our support, our appreciation. They are an extraordinary family with many, many law enforcement professionals among them and we will stand by Officer Healey and his family for the long-run.

Officer Joseph Meeker was also injured, thank God his injuries were less severe. He was treated and released from the hospital. We visited with Officer Meeker and two other officers who were at the scene – and those two other officers did an extraordinary job, again, in neutralizing the assailant immediately.

I've said many times, New York City is blessed to have the finest police force anywhere in the world and we are blessed to have the finest police leadership anywhere in the world. It shows every single day in how this police force handles challenges. Challenges in many ways more numerous and difficult than those posed anywhere else, certainly in this country. And this is a day when we appreciate what goes with being a police officer in this environment, in today's reality. The risks, the challenges, the complexity, the fact that our officers show up every single day ready to do their job on behalf of the people of this city and they do it very, very well.

So, all I would ask in addition to the briefing you're going to hear from the Commissioner and his team and our request for the help of the public in finding more information in this instance. I want to ask that everyone's prayers and thoughts be with Officer Healey and his family. We wish him a speedy recovery. And again, we'll be with him every step of the way. And with that I'd like to turn to our Commissioner, Bill Bratton.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton: Thank you Mr. Mayor.

We are joined at the podium and they will each speak – our Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce to my left who will be up immediately after my remarks, John Miller Deputy Commissioner for our Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureaus. We also have with us, off to the side, our Chief of Intelligence Tom Gilati and Chief of Counterterrorism Jim Waters and Chief Joe Herbert who heads up the New York component of the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

I want to echo the Mayor's comments. The exceptional performance of heroic duty by our members yesterday, for those four young officers. I've now had the opportunity as part of this investigation to look at the extensive photos and videos of that incident. And, in the space of seven seconds – and that's how long this incident took, seven seconds – those officers exhibited extraordinary, as the Mayor just used that term, bravery and skill in not only taking down an individual who was intent on killing them, but also rendering first aid immediately to their fallen comrade.

As many of you already know that yesterday at the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 162nd Street in the confines of the 103rd Precinct in Queens, four of our uniformed police officers assigned to the 103rd Precinct were the victims of an unprovoked attack. As the officers were standing together, Zale Thompson, a 32-year-old Black male, charged at the officers with a hatchet in his hand. The video we released yesterday is very graphic and depicts quite clearly his intent and again the whole incident took all of seven seconds.

The suspect struck two officers, one on the head, causing a severe injury to that officer. That's Officer Kenneth Healey, who is at Jamaica Hospital in critical and stable condition, recovering but in a great deal of pain. As the suspect continued his assault, the remaining two officers then fired numerous times upon the armed suspect who was charging at them and he fell to the ground. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. A 29-year-old female bystander, half a block away, was accidentally struck by a bullet in her lower back. She is in Jamaica Hospital, also in critical but stable condition.

In the last 24 hours, the Department has mounted a very significant joint investigation by our Detective Bureau, Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureaus, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The have been working tirelessly overnight, interviewing witnesses and conducting searches, attempting to gather as much information as they can about the suspect, Zale Thompson. And we would appeal to the public today, anybody that has any information about this individual, we would appreciate their contacting us to share that information. 

We're going through quite a bit of evidentiary materials as a result of search warrants that have been served and this remains a very active investigation. We are in what I would describe as the preliminary stages, although we aren’t in a position to make preliminary findings and we are working closely with our partners at the FBI, and as I've already indicated, with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

So we have a lot more work to be done, and at this point, I would like Chief of Detectives Bob Boyce to give an overview of what we have learned since yesterday and where we are going with the continuing investigation. Bob –

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Pursuant to yesterday's attack on a police officer, Queens detectives were able to positively identify Zale Herbert Thompson, this gentlemen you see on my left, as the perpetrator of the severe attack on the two police officers. During that assault this blue hatchet tool was recovered from his person. He was still hanging on to it when he was pronounced D.O.A. at the scene.

Through the night we were able to identify different aspects of his life. Through his fingerprints, we found out that he had six prior arrests in Oxnard, California in 2003 and 2004, mostly for a domestic history. He has no New York arrests thus far that we've been able to find. His only NYPD contact was when he was victim of assault back in 1998, when he was 16 years old. Right now, we were finding out he was discharged from the military after three years in 2003 – an involuntary discharge – we are still investigating what happened there as well. Preliminarily, they tell us he was a part of drugs, that he may have been under the influence of drugs there.

We did two search warrants on the overnight – one at his residence. We were able to speak to family members. The other one at his mother’s residence. Both in Queens – nearby where the attacked occurred. We found out that he was a convert to Islam approximately two years ago. He has been described by family members as a recluse and by his other family members that he was depressed lately.

We got a significant amount of evidence to examine right now: cell phones, computer towers, laptops. And these two items over here to my right, you'll see these were recovered from his residence. It's a weaponized axe with both sides as a weapon, and also a very large hunting knife as well.

This is where we stand right now in the investigation.

We were able to go up on his social media sites as well and found some anti-government postings. We're examining that material right now. It's ongoing. My detectives are going through the computers to find other evidence as well. 

And that's what I have right now.

We would encourage anybody who knows this individual to contact the police immediately. Help us in our investigation, but that's where we stand right now. We have not uncovered any affiliations with any particular one person or one group as of right now.

Unknown: Take questions and comments only. On-topic only.

Chief Boyce: Please if you have any information, just to the public, 5-7-7-TIPS, our tips line. If anybody has any contact with this individual at all, we can certainly help put us in the right direction.

Question: Do you have any protocols in terms of police officers walking their beat staying together?

Commissioner Bratton: We have issued a directive to our personnel that officers, for the time being, until we get a bit of sense of this incident, that they always walk in pairs. We are certainly encouraged that they maintain vigilance, also around any of our police facilities. Officers, you would expect, in the normal course of their duties would do that. But, as a result of yesterday's incident, that four officers on patrol, attacked in the middle of an afternoon in a busy shopping area, that would be the last place that you normally think that that type of attack would occur, but it did. So instructions went out.

Until we get a better idea, we at this time believe that he acted alone. We would describe him as self-radicalized. We would describe him as inspired. We appeal at this time that he was self-directed in his activities. And that the investigation is hoping to determine as quickly as possible if there were any other actions that he was engaged in with others that might indicate a continuing threat, but at this time, based on our preliminary investigation, we don't believe that's the case, but we, as always, are erring on the side of caution.

Question: [inaudible] say self-radicalized [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: The idea being that the father, as Chief Boyce indicated to us during questioning, that he believed his son had several years ago had converted and become a Muslim. He was a self-proclaimed Muslim in that sense. We are attempting to identify whether he had any connectivity within the Muslim community. So that's the effort we're making and undertaking to see if there is any affiliation with mosques or associations. Most of his activity and exposure, if you will, and interaction appears to all be through the internet. The father described that he spent extensive amounts of time by himself in his bedroom. And, by all accounts, was a true proverbial loner.

Question: Sir, is there any indication that he had particular animus against police, against people of other races, or people of other religions, that he had been inspired by any calls to be [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: I can ask Chief Boyce who is leading the investigation or John Miller who's coordinating the activities of the Counterterrorism Intelligence Bureau to speak to some of the specifics that they've been overnight looking extensively at those computers that have been recovered and some of the Facebook-type entries. John –

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller: He has an extensive social media presence. We've been able to look at some of that. The common thread that goes through those conversations are anti-Western, anti-government, and in some cases anti-White. In addition, more recent indicators based on the search of his computer show activities –visiting websites that are focused on designated terrorist groups – Al Qaeda, ISIS, al-Shabaab – as well as looking at different acts of violence including beheadings, attacks up until and including, the fence-jumping incident at the White House, the shooting in Canada, which as you know almost immediately proceeds this incident. So, it appears just from the electronic forensic piece of this, that this is something he has been thinking about for some time, and thinking about with more intensity in recent days.

Question: Sir, have you attempted in any way to contact any of those organizations that may contact [inaudible]?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: That's going to be a key part of the ongoing investigation. As the police commissioner stated clearly, at this point, at this preliminary stage, very early in the investigation, every indicator points to that he was acting alone, self-radicalized, self-directed. But we have to go several layers down into his communications to vet that and make sure that we've seen everything, but at this point there's no indication of anyone else involved.

Question: [inaudible] term self-radicalized, self-radicalized home-grown terrorist?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: Jonathan, this is one of the phenomenons that we are facing, which is if you go back to the days of the Lackawanna Six, radicalization was an up close and personal affair where people were recruited by recruiters, sometimes taken halfway around the world to camps and indoctrinized. Today, the model here is mass-marketing. They play to a wide audience on a number of web platforms with increasingly sophisticated messaging, compelling videos and outreach on the assumption that if just a few buy into that narrative and act out independently, that will be enough.

I would add at this point that this is something that we've been very engaged with, New York's Muslim community and its leadership, on. And recently there was a group of houses of worship that got together and decided to have a citywide coordinated prayer and sermon that delivered the countervailing message to this violent extremism drumbeat that is targeting its youth through the internet. It is certainly a concern of the federal government, of the police department, but also of the community.

Question: Self-radicalized home-grown terrorists [inaudible] six. That’s the number [inaudible]?

Deputy Commissioner Miller: I think at this point, from a preliminary standpoint, if you ask the question "was this an act of terrorism", it appears at this point that that was the suspect’s intent. We still have a little more investigative work to do to determine if we can document that in another way.

Commissioner Bratton: The interesting irony to this, we have to this audience, certainly I know of the nine months I've been commissioner, I've talked about the increasing concerns about the self-radicalization, the impact of the media reference of ISIS and the others to use the internet and social networks to encourage individuals to engage on their own in attacks. The instance in Canada seemed to reflect that type of motivation. John Miller, yesterday, Commissioner Miller, was ironically, even as this instance was occurring, was addressing in Orlando at the Major Cities Chief's Conference, the intelligence chiefs from most of the 70-some odd major cities in this country, a presentation giving our perspective on what are the emerging threats at this particular point in time in this country that we're seeing certainly here in New York. And this issue, the self-radicalized, the lone wolf, if you will, has grown to be one of increasing concern. And the irony was that even as he was giving that presentation, this instance was occurring here.

Question: Commissioner [inaudible] and other agencies are really good at working [inaudible] how do you ... It seems to me it's almost impossible to predict this kind of activity and do anything to stop it?

Commissioner Bratton: Well that's where the messaging and the sense of seeking help from clergy, community groups, family members, friends who are concerned about a significant change in the personality of a loved one or a friend or a worshiper. In this case, the father was aware that the son was increasing reclusive, in the room, on the internet all the time. So, what we constantly seek to do is to try to educate. to be eyes and ears for us. If somebody’s behavior is changing dramatically, let us know. At the same time that we're constantly working with the various tips that we get. But that is the challenge. There is unfortunately a growing number of these types of people out there.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Let me just jump in from my [inaudible]. I think it's a crucial point.

Look, there's some troubled individuals out there. And they take many forms. Unfortunately, literally as we were preparing to come down, we heard about a shooting at a school. And we've seen way too many of those in this country. And they have followed – and I'm obviously not a law enforcement professional, I'm speaking out of common sense as an average citizen – they followed a pattern of emotionally-troubled people, loners who act out. So when you look at how that has taken a form all over the country, sadly often directed at schools, that's another piece of the puzzle that gets back to what the commissioner said. In so many of those cases we've seen the painful reality of parents or family members or friends thought something was wrong, but they just didn't know what to do about it or they felt self-conscious about coming forward.

So I think we have to look at a couple of points here. One, if people are experiencing emotional difficulties, have violent tendencies, the authorities need to know that. We all wish we had been given a warning, for example, think of Newtown, where there were so many indicators. If only family or friends had gone to the authorities in a way that could have had that young man's issues addressed differently. When you think about the situation that Deputy Commissioner Miller just spoke about, so many people in the communities of this city, including the Muslim community, who want to help the police to keep us all safe. We've seen an outpouring of support from Muslim clergy, who have come forward with a message of tolerance, and inclusion and non-violence and encouraging their faithful to work with the whole community and the whole city. That's a very powerful message and we're seeing it now all over the city.

That may lead to a family member coming forward, to a clergy member, for example and acknowledging something they're concerned about. That may lead to a neighbor or a schoolmate coming forward to a principal or a teacher saying I'm worried about a friend of mine who's acting strangely. With that's part of how we're going to get ahead of these things – one of those things we have to do is open up those lines of communication.

The phrase here in New York City "if you see something, say something" has been made commonplace since 9/11, but it takes more forms than just looking at a bag left on the subway. It also should take the form of if you see erratic behavior, if you see someone act in a manner that might suggest a bigger problem, the authorities need to know or a clergy member or a school official. It has to do with a lot of other challenges. We've had some challenges just in the last few days on child abuse. The same thing, if we had had a little warning, we could've done something.

So this is something we have to encourage a deeper connection between all our people and our police force in particular, to get these leads out so we can do something about it.

Question: Commissioner, what prompted this conversion two years ago, can you speak to [inaudible] background, education, married, what he does for a living, etc.?

Commissioner Bratton: The issue of what prompted, based on the father's statement, a conversion three years ago. That would be part of the ongoing investigation. I believe that the investigation at this time has indicated that he is not married and no children. As far as employment, doesn't seem to be any recent employment as best as we can tell. This is some of what we're trying to put together.

Question: And is the hatchet newly purchased, recently purchased [inaudible]?

Commissioner Bratton: That will be part of the investigation. Also, as you can see, it's a fairly distinctive piece of equipment.

Question: He was residing with his father in Queens, is that correct?

Commissioner Bratton: Our understanding is his most recent residence for our period of time had been with the father. And that on the night before this incident, he had stayed over with his mother in a separate residence.

Question: Both in Queens?

Commissioner Bratton: Both in Queens. Both in fairly close proximity to where this incident occurred.

Question: Commissioner, while he was believed to be thinking about doing this possibly, this particular incident is spontaneous, is that right?

Commissioner Bratton: We have, and part of what we are attempting to do with going through the computers and the other evidence that's been gathered, attempting to find if in fact this was planned, if it was referenced in his writings, did he leave a manifesto of any sort? As of this time, we have no found anything of that nature. This does appear to have been a spontaneous act in the sense of how quickly it occurred. But the fact that he was walking around with that axe in a backpack, the fact that he left some place with that, would indicate some sense of preparation.

Question: [inaudible] terrorist attack?

Commissioner Bratton: I'm very comfortable this was a terrorist attack, certainly. And we will attempt to confirm, as Mr. Miller had indicated, that Jonathan [inaudible] question, is this the 16th. When we are definitively in a position to bring closure to it. As I'm looking at this, at this particular point in time, I would be comfortable. Preliminary evaluation is that this was a terrorist act.

Question: [inaudible] I'm sorry. Commissioner, [inaudible] any type of other weapons, let's say knives, and also was he on the radar [inaudible] communicate with these other terror organizations?

Commissioner Bratton: The issue of a firearm – I have no awareness or knowledge of that at this time. That would be something we would continue to look at. He is not on our radar at the moment. He was, to the best of our knowledge, keeping in mind this is less than 24 hours later, that he was not on our radar, Joint Terrorism Task Force as of yesterday's incident.

Question: [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: I can't go into the medical circumstances at this time other than the fact that critical, but stable, and that he is receiving very intensive and extensive care at Jamaica Hospital.

Unknown: Okay. Thank you all.

Unknown: Thank you, sir.

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