The Uzbek is described by the US media as a “bike path killer”. The self-confessed IS supporter drove a pickup truck through a busy street in Manhattan, New York, on Halloween 2017. There he intentionally ran over cyclists and pedestrians while shouting the Islamist battle cry “Allahu Akbar” (Eng.: God is great). He killed eight people and seriously injured twelve others. His assassination was the deadliest Islamist assassination in New York State after 9/11.
The Islamist himself was slightly injured in the assassination – but his goal was actually “to become a martyr,” as he himself said in court. The eightfold murderer showed no remorse after his crime, quite the opposite: he wanted to hang an IS flag over his sickbed. Then-US President Donald Trump called for the Uzbek’s execution and reinstated the federal death penalty in 2020. The Attorney General also announced that he was seeking the death penalty for the Islamist, but Joe Biden reversed Donald Trump’s decree last year. Nevertheless, the death penalty could theoretically have been imposed in the state of New York – it was last carried out more than 60 years ago. However, the jury could not agree on this on Monday. Since no unanimous decision was reached, the maximum prison sentence was automatically imposed. The 35-year-old convicted murderer will serve them with no prospect of parole at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
