Who Is Ryan Nash? 'Hero' Police Officer Shot NYC Attacker

A New York City police officer fired the crucial shot that ended an attack Tuesday afternoon that left eight dead and 15 injured. Ryan Nash, who serves in the First Precinct in Lower Manhattan, shot 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov after he rammed his truck into the West Side Highway bike path.

Nash, a 28-year-old Long Island native, joined the force in 2012. He has been described as a “very active cop” with a record that includes more than 50 arrests. After he fired nine shots, Nash was taken to the hospital for ringing in his ears but was otherwise uninjured.

Before shooting Saipov, Nash was one of four officers called to a high school after a student had indicated he wanted to kill himself, according to the New York Times. But Nash and other officers quickly left the scene after learning of the attack that took place just outside the school.

Saipov drove a rented truck into the bike lane along the West Side Highway at around 3:05 p.m., smashing into bicyclists and pedestrians before crashing into a school bus. He then exited the truck wielding what turned out to be fake firearms. It was then that Nash shot and apprehended him.

“[Nash] confronted the suspect and shot him in the abdomen,” Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said in a press conference Tuesday. “I want to commend the response of our NYPD officer that was on post near the location who stopped the carnage moments after it began.”

Saipov, an Uzbeki immigrant and part-time Uber driver residing in Paterson, New Jersey, was hospitalized after the attack and remained in critical condition Wednesday. Police say Saipov is responsible for the attack, but he has yet to be charged. Authorities condemned the attack as an act of terrorism.

“This was an act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. “And a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them.”