Who is Trevor Bickford’s mother? Audra D’Antilio WARNED of his 'terrorist leanings' weeks before attack
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: The mother of a 19-year-old American boy who turned into an Islamist extremist had reportedly alerted his sudden terrorist leaning to their local police department in southern Maine three weeks prior to his New Year's Eve attack on NYPD cops. Trevor Bickford from Maine traveled to Big Apple on December 29 posing as a tourist and allegedly slashed two NYPD cops with a machete and left a third cop with a fractured skull, near Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Wells Police Captain Gerald Congdon revealed Audra D'Antilio, mother of the suspect had allegedly informed the department about Trevor "acting strange" and talking about "the Taliban." The local police contacted the FBI, who then placed the teen on a watch list, Congdon said. However, there were no efforts made by the local police in monitoring Trevor's alarming behavior. At the time of the attack, Trevor was shot in the shoulder and all parties were rushed to Bellevue hospital. The suspect was later charged with attempted murder and assault on Monday, January 2.
READ MORE
"A while back, the family called and said he was acting strange or he wanted to leave, and there was some talk about the Taliban and all that kind of stuff," Congdon told Daily Mail. "So we called the FBI and they dealt with it. So that was it for us. We didn't investigate anything." "I guess they came down and interviewed him," he added. "The FBI did their thing. To my knowledge, that was it." Congdon added he was as shocked to learn that the local high school grad, carried the attack in New York City while wondering how the ordinary 19-year-old turned into a Muslim extremist. It was reported that Trevor found religion after the death of his father, Tom, from an overdose in 2018 at the age of 41.
Attributing the attack to a mental health crisis in America, Congdon said, "Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in a mental health crisis today." "Why are people shooting up schools, or going into businesses, is it to make a statement about what?" he added. "I think most of these people are having issues with mental health. If that's (Trevor's) ideology of Taliban and wanting to go to Afghanistan, that's up to him," he continued. "But to start acting out and attacking three police officers, I don't think anyone knows what was going through his head other than him. Fortunately, he wasn't killed when he was shot, so maybe they'll have an opportunity to interview him."