Investigators looking for clues, associates in NJ after deadly NYC terror attack

Here's what we know about the Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbek national who was arrested Tuesday after eight people were killed and 11 were seriously injured by a rental truck that mowed down pedestrians and cyclists on a busy bike path on the west side of Manhattan.

Among the dead are five friends from Argentina and a 33-year-old man from New Milford.

The following information is compiled from staff and Associated Press reports.

Immigrant from Uzbekistan

Officials say Saipov legally immigrated to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010 and first lived in Ohio. Most recently, he was living in Paterson.

Dilnoza Abdusamatova said Saipov briefly stayed with his family in a Cincinnati suburb upon immigrating.

"He always used to work," Abdusamatova told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "He wouldn't go to parties or anything. He only used to come home and rest and leave and go back to work."

President Donald Trump said Saipov came over on the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, and used that to attack Democrats and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Living in North Jersey

FBI agents and police are searching for evidence in the Paterson neighborhood where the man suspected of plowing down people on a New York City riverfront bike path lived.

Law enforcement cordoned off an apartment building early Wednesday. Officers also searched a garage and converged on a van left in a parking lot of a Home Depot, where they said he had rented the truck.

A building manager in Paterson told NorthJersey.com that he rented the apartment to the 29-year-old several months ago.

A man who identified himself as Saipov's neighbor told NJ Advance Media he often saw Saipov standing on the corner talking to friends.

The city is home to a large Muslim population and a mosque is near the apartment.

Left terrorist note

Officials say Saipov left a handwritten note referring to the Islamic State group. Police say it was written in Arabic.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the suspect had been radicalized in the United States.

Saipov remained at Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday recovering from surgery. An NYPD officer shot him in the abdomen after he crashed his truck into a school bus, ending his rampage.

A NYPD spokesman said police had already interviewed Saipov and were hoping to gleam more information from him.

Working on this for weeks

Officials believe Saipov had planned this attack for several weeks and appears to have followed ISIS instructions on social media to followers around the world.

An NYPD spokesman said that Saipov had never been the subject of FBI or NYPD investigations, but investigators were looking at whether he may have been connected to other people who were being investigated.

An NYPD spokesman on Wednesday said that investigators had obtained search warrants overnight, interviewed witnesses and tracked down associates to piece together what happened. They also are obtaining every security and traffic footage from the attack scene and the route he may have traveled from New Jersey to Manhattan.

'Not happy with his life'

Mirrakhmat Muminov, also an Uzbek truck driver, said Saipov lived in Stow, Ohio, for a few years.

He said Saipov lost his insurance on his truck because of a few traffic tickets. He says companies stopped hiring Saipov, so he left for New Jersey.

Muminov also says Saipov was "not happy with his life" and would get into arguments with his friends and family.

Muminov says Saipov never spoke about ISIS, but he could tell Saipov held more radical views.

Married with children

The manager of the Paterson building where Saipov lived told The Record that Sayfullo Saipov lived with his wife and two children in a two-bedroom apartment.

A marriage license filed in Summit County, Ohio, lists a man by the name of Sayfulloh Saipov marrying Nozima Odilova on April 12, 2013. It said the couple were living in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, at the time.

The license listed Saipov as a truck driver. His wife is about six years younger. Both listed Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as their hometown.

Uber driver

The ride-hailing company Uber said Saipov passed its background check and drove for the service for six months, making more than 1,400 trips.

The company said it was in touch with the FBI and offered its assistance and that it was reviewing Saipov's driving history but found no related safety reports.

Truck driver with issues

Records show Saipov was a commercial truck driver who formed a pair of businesses in Ohio.

The first business, Sayf Motors Inc., used the address of a family friend near Cincinnati with whom Saipov had stayed for a couple of weeks after his arrival in the country.

The second, Bright Auto LLC, used an address near Cleveland.

A trucking industry website listed Saipov at a Paterson address. Court records related to trucking-related infractions list Saipov with addresses in Paterson and the Cleveland suburbs.

According to the records, Saipov was ticketed for not having the right brakes on his vehicle in Platte County, Missouri, near Kansas City in late 2015. A warrant was issued for Saipov's arrest in April 2016 when he missed a hearing on the case. He resolved it in November 2016 by pleading guilty and paying $200 in fines and court costs.

'Very good guy' in Florida

Authorities said Saipov had a Florida driver's license and some public records showed an address for him at a Tampa apartment complex.

Residents at that complex said FBI agents came by Tuesday evening and conducted interviews.

Michael Roberts, 30, an overnight shift worker, said he was asleep when the agents showed up at about 5:30 p.m. but that they interviewed his cousin. He said both he and his cousin had moved in only a week ago and had never heard of Saipov.

A friend who met Saipov in Florida, Kobiljon Matkarov, told The New York Times and the New York Post that he seemed like a "very good guy."

"My kids like him too. He is always playing with them," Matkarov told the Post.