![Abu Mohammad says he 'totally gets what he [Saipov] did'](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uGZiouPFTgyPPwsbjg4DXvRY1ClZdwswB5h2qmmOxyvuiCqB4HAfhMcgBdh3llAiWVFoM2NvheFJjnGAcwLtwU6I1-qs01UbWURU_d86WTf2OmLoPx8xp4_EmplUyH1qs5z5rUmJRDpPl6IxKUUfHe6_CJ693neherX_Sc0nxtQMuMVIg=s0-d)
'I totally get what he did': Mosque-goer who knew terror truck driver rails against President Bush's Middle East policy - but says he's a Trump supporter
- Worshipper Abu Mohammad knew terror truck driver Sayfullo Saipov, 29
- Omar Mosqu-goer said he last saw Saipov at the mosque about two months ago
- Railed against U.S. foreign policy in Middle East while talking to DailyMail.com
- 'I totally get what he did,' Abu said of the suspect. 'It's in response to Muslims dying every day as a result of this ongoing conflict'
- NYPD had reportedly been studying the Omar Mosque in Paterson as a possible location for 'budding terrorist conspiracies'
- On Wednesday, one of Saipov's neighbor said he saw him and his two male friends driving around in a Home Depot truck as recently as two days ago
- Uzbekan immigrant Saipov killed eight and injured 12 in lower Manhattan after using a truck vehicle to plow down innocent people on Halloween
A worshipper who knew terror truck driver Sayfullo Saipov and attended the same mosque says he 'totally gets what he did'.
Abu Mohammad, who stopped to talk to DailyMail.com after leaving afternoon prayer service at the Omar Mosque in Paterson, New Jersey, on Wednesday, said he last saw the suspect at the mosque about two months ago and first set eyes on him there two years back.
'I didn't know him by name, but I would see him there every two to three months,' the 46-year-old Pakistani national, said.
A cement mixer by trade and living in the U.S. now for nearly three decades, Abu described the murder suspect as having a 'beautiful smile, was a nice guy, and someone who never cursed. He called me brother and I did the same back at him.'
Abu railed against the U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly blaming the President Bush senior and son era for escalating tensions.
'I totally get what he did,' Abu said of the suspect. 'It's in response to Muslims dying every day as a result of this ongoing conflict. Why doesn't the media cover that? The U.S. needs to get out and let us run our own affairs. But as long as they meddle and interfere, these terrorist attacks will continue to happen.'
A supporter of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, Abu would later get into a scuffle at the mosque before a late afternoon prayer service and was booted out, with one worshiper branding him an ISIS sympathizer.
'They don't like me because I voted for Trump,' he said in a huff on the sidewalk out front.
Saipov, an Uzbek native, was a Muslim who attended a 'suspicious' mosque in New Jersey and was allegedly radicalized sometime after moving to the U.S. seven years ago, it emerged on Wednesday. He killed eight and injured 12 in lower Manhattan on Halloween.
According to NorthJersey.com, the NYPD has been studying the Omar Mosque in Paterson, near Saipov's home, as a possible location for 'budding terrorist conspiracies'.
Sayfullo Saipov (seen left and right) killed eight and injured 12 in lower Manhattan on Tuesday
Abu Mohammad stopped to talk to DailyMail.com after leaving afternoon prayer service at the Omar Mosque in Paterson (pictured), New Jersey, on Wednesday
Ken (Khader) Abuassab, founder and director of the American Arab Civic Organization, an outreach program in the state of New Jersey and based in Paterson denounced the attack and said Saipov's actions do not reflect the beliefs of Muslim people.
'I am shocked by this violent act, condemn what this individual did and sympathize with our neighbors in New York City. Islam is not responsible for this foolish act. We are a peaceful people and wish to live in harmony with everyone, whether Christian or Jewish,' he told DailyMail.com.
'As a people, we respect the lives of others and it is not our intent to hurt or kill anyone. We have an open door policy at our mosques in New Jersey and welcome all to visit and pray.'
When asked about the surveillance by law enforcement of the nearby Omar Mosque about a decade ago, he said nothing was found untoward and reiterated its open door policy.
And despite the mosque's proximity to the suspect's home - just around the corner from his apartment - he insisted that he had no official affiliation.
However, he did acknowledge that he could have prayed there on occasion. It holds prayer services five times daily.
Carlos Batista, 23, who lives two doors away from Sayfullo Saipov in Paterson, New Jersey said the Uzbek immigrant had the Home Depot truck for about three weeks and would park it wherever they could find a spot
'We recovered after 9/11, and other incidents in the U.S., and we will heal from this one while continuing to make the point that we are about co-existing in peace and abhor all violent and extremist acts,' he added.
On Wednesday, a neighbor of the 29-year-old terrorist revealed he recognized the suspect and saw him and his two male friends driving around in a Home Depot truck as recently as two days ago.
Carlos Batista, 23, who lived two doors down from Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov in Paterson, New Jersey told DailyMail.com that the Uzbek immigrant had the vehicle for weeks before the attack, but never saw him load or unload anything from it.
'They had this Home Depot truck, like the one he used yesterday, for about three weeks and would park it wherever they could find a spot along Genessee [Avenue],' Carlos said in an exclusive interview.
'I found it odd and suspicious because never did I see [Saipov] or the other two move anything in or out of it, or were they ever in work clothes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5041457/Mosque-goer-knew-terrorist-says-did.html
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