Suspect in NYC attack may have wanted to bring rental truck to Halloween Parade — Pinoy community leader


Some Filipinos in New York City believe the suspect behind the "terror attack" that killed eight and injured more than a dozen others may have wanted to bring the rental truck to the Halloween Parade in the city.
Speaking in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, Vid Figueras, a Filipino community leader, said: "May parada bukas, ang hinala nila doon dadalin ang truck sa parada bukas...ang hinala nila, baka doon pupunta."
Figueras, however, did not say if the intention was to wreak havoc in the parade.
A spokesperson for the New York City mayor said the parade would continue---and it has---with added police protection.

Figueras reiterated an earlier announcement from the Philippine consulate in New York that there is no immediate report of Filipinos who were killed or injured in the attack.
He said the consulate usually releases official reports within a day of the incident. Filipinos in New York City are reportedly thankful that police officers were immediately able to neutralize the suspect.
When asked if the actions of the suspect, whom Figueras and international media have reported to be identified as Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uzbek national, should deter people from visiting the iconic city, Figueras said terror attacks can happen anywhere.
"Alam mo, ako, sa akin naman eh all over naman yung nangyayaring ganyan, kapares nung nangyari sa Las Vegas, hindi natin masasabi ito kung kailan gagawin ito ng mga terorista eh, at saka yung mga talagang pumapatay ng mga inosenteng tao eh," he said.
"Hindi mo masasabi kung anong nasa isip ng taong ito eh," he added.
He said he had left Las Vegas, the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history, merely three days before a gunman rained gunfire on a country music festival.
Figueras said Saipov, who is reportedly in critical condition after being shot by police, came from Tampa, Florida, drove to New Jersey to rent a truck, then through Holland Tunnel, after which he plowed through the bike lane.
There are 222,109 Filipinos living in the New York-Newark, New York-New Jersey-Connecticut-Pennsylvania area, according to the United States Census Bureau in 2016. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News

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