A 17-year-old who expressed interest in joining ISIS has pleaded guilty to trying to kill one New Jersey police officer and attacking backup cops with a knife.
Fasihullah Safar, of Alexandria, Va., will be sentenced as an adult on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and motor vehicle theft, Burlington County prosecutors said Friday.
Safar was initially charged as a juvenile before the case against him was enhanced in September.
The charges stem from an incident on March 21 of last year, when Safar repeatedly struck a Florence Township patrol car while the officer inside was responding to a collision, later learned to have been caused by the teen.
During the course of deliberately ramming the cop car, the teen’s vehicle was rendered inoperable. When backup officers arrived on the scene, Safar “charged toward them while aggressively swinging a knife,” prosecutors said. A tactical vest spared one cop who was stabbed in the chest multiple times from suffering more serious wounds.
As police attempted to subdue Safar, another officer suffered facial injuries and a laceration to his torso. Two others were treated for unspecified but non-life-threatening injuries.
Safar suffered a cut to one of his fingers that was caused by his own knife.
Just days before being taken into custody in New Jersey, the defendant was seen trespassing at a high school in Fredericksburg, Va. He fled school grounds when approached by a resource officer but couldn’t be found, prompting the closure of the entire district. He later made his way to New Jersey for reasons unclear in what authorities said was a stolen car.
While appearing in court on Thursday, Safar confessed that he started following ISIS on social media in the months leading up to his confrontation with police, and indicated his intentions to join the terrorist group.
“In response to questioning from his public defender, Safar admitted to screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ during the scuffle, and acknowledged that his intention was to promote terrorism by killing one of the officers,” prosecutors said.
Safar is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26, when he’s expected to receive 18 years in state prison.
