By David Luces
Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A man inspired by ISIS who attacked and shot NYPD officers in Brooklyn during the 2020 George Floyd protests was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday, it has been announced.
Dzenan Camovic, 22, is accused of stabbing a police officer in the neck, then stealing his gun to shoot two other cops, US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York says. Camovic pleaded guilty in March to charges related to the attack, CNN reported.
Camovic, a Bosnian national, was living in Brooklyn illegally, and was inspired by ISIS, prosecutors said. He will be deported after completing his sentence.
“Today’s 30-year sentence, along with Camovic’s removal from the United States, guarantees the community will be protected from his hate-filled ideology and actions,” Breon Peace, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
On June 3, 2020, prosecutors said Camovic approached two uniformed NYPD officers and stabbed one of them in the neck with a knife.
The suspect then chased the second officer, “repeatedly and violently stabbing at the officer with the knife and eventually throwing the knife at the officer,” according to an indictment.
Camovic then returned to the first officer, attacked him again and robbed him of his gun, CNN reported. Prosecutors added that Camovic used that weapon to fire multiple shots at several officers.
Police returned fire, and Camovic was struck multiple times. Camovic repeatedly screamed “Allahu Akbar” during the attack on the officers, according to CNN.
Camovic possessed a significant volume of materials that demonstrated his interest in and support for violent Islamist extremism, prosecutors said, including material referencing the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ( ISIS).
“As today’s sentence demonstrates, those who direct hate-fueled violence at anyone — including the brave men and women of law enforcement — will face stiff consequences in our criminal justice system,” Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI New York field office, said in a statement.
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