NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn man who was arrested for allegedly stabbing a police officer in the neck, shooting his partner and firing a weapon at other officers during an “ambush” in June was “motivated by ISIS,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
Dzenan Camovic, a 21-year-old undocumented immigrant from Bosnia, was indicted on attempted aggravated murder and other charges on Wednesday in connection to the attack, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Easter District of New York.
Camovic ambushed the group of NYPD officers near Flatbush and Church avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn on June 3, during the protests over the police brutality death of George Floyd, according to prosecutors.
The say he approached the officers, who were assigned to an “anti-looting post” on the coroner, from behind and quickly stabbed one of them in the neck with a knife before trying to stab another.
Prosecutors allege Camovic then stole the injured officer’s gun and began shooting at several officers who responded to the scene, hitting one of them in the hand. He was eventually taken into custody after one of the responding officers shot him.
The officer who was stabbed and the officer who was shot were both taken to the hospital and were expected to recover. Camovic was also hospitalized in critical condition.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Camovic “repeatedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar,’” during the attack – an Arabic phrase that means, “God is the greatest.”
An investigation after the attack found the 21-year-old was in possession of a “significant volume of materials that demonstrates his interest in and support for violent Islamist extremism,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called Camovic’s attack “cowardly.”
“We are lucky that these officers were not killed. This case underscores the dangers our police officers face day in and day out,” he said. “We will now seek to bring this defendant to justice for endangering their lives and the lives of those around them.”
Camovic faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he is convicted.
A lawyer for the 21-year-old Camovic refuted the government's assertion that his client was supporting the Islamic State or other terrorist groups. Lawyer Robert Stahl said Camovic “is a troubled young man in a number of respects, as opposed to having any terrorist or Islamic leanings.”