Terror suspect Trevor Bickford shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ as he lunged at cops: source

The Maine teenager and suspected Islamist extremist who allegedly lunged at NYPD officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s Eve said “Allahu Akbar” or “Allahu Akbar” during the attack, sources have said. police sources to the Post.

Trevor Bickford, 19, was charged with attempted murder and assault on Monday for the Dec. 31 attack that left three officers injured, including a recruit who suffered a fractured skull on his first day in work.

A police source said the suspect was heard saying “Allahu Akbar” as he suddenly lunged at the cops who were working at the holiday security service not far from the bullet drop at the Crossroads of the World.

“Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great” in Arabic, has been co-opted by Muslim extremists in recent years as a battle cry during terror attacks.

But the alleged cop-hating teenager may have even missed that and said “Allahu Akbar” instead, other sources say.

Bickford, from Wells, Maine, had tried to join Islamic militants in Afghanistan but reportedly came to the Big Apple on December 29 instead – telling his family he was coming as a tourist, sources said.

Instead, he struck terror when he cut through the cops with an 18-inch blade and was shot in the shoulder by one two days after arriving.

Bickford, once a seemingly typical New England teenager from a small Maine resort town, “found religion” after his father’s overdose death in 2018, neighbors and sources said this week.

He “radicalized” just a month ago and ventured into town alone on an Amtrak train, sources say. He may have camped overnight in Forest Park in Queens and booked a room at a Lower East Side Bowery hotel on Friday night, the sources said.

Cops then found a handwritten manifesto in which he urged his family to “embrace Allah” and berated his US Marine Corps brother for allegedly losing his way.

Bickford was being held at Bellevue Hospital pending his court appearance.