'You come here for a reason': How a terror suspect could hide in the patchwork of Paterson

Paterson residents expressed sorrow and outrage at news that someone living in their community was behind Tuesday's deadly terror attack in lower Manhattan that killed eight people — and that once again someone had used their streets as a launching pad to carry out a horrible attack.

Their unified message was this: Sayfullo Saipov, who reportedly moved to the city three months ago, was a newcomer bent on doing harm, a monster they did not know, and someone who did not represent them or their faith.

"I've been a community leader here for 35 years. This community is inclusive. This person does not represent Islam and does not represent Paterson,” said Ken (Khader) Abuassab, the founder and director of the American Arab Civic Organization, a nonprofit with an office down the street from where Saipov lived.

Soon after eight people were killed by a man driving a rental truck down a Manhattan bike path on Tuesday afternoon, information emerged that the suspect was an immigrant from Uzbekistan who lived in Paterson. FBI agents, New York police officers and news crews quickly descended on the suspect’s South Paterson neighborhood, a Middle Eastern enclave where some pizzerias only sell slices prepared according to Islamic cooking standards.

People around the neighborhood said they feared Saipov’s actions would harm the reputation of the area, noting that they had faced these kinds of controversies before. 

Years ago, several of the hijackers who participated in the Sept. 11 terror attacks rented an apartment on Union Street. Federal agents swarmed the neighborhood in the frenzied aftermath and, for a time, 486 Union Ave. became notorious.

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Also, in the days after Sept. 11, rumors spread that people in Paterson were celebrating in the streets over the destruction of the Twin Towers — events that local officials and police say never happened. But Donald Trump as a presidential candidate referenced such celebrations in New Jersey — giving the rumors new life.

Then, some five years ago, news reports revealed that the New York Police Department was doing secret surveillance of businesses, restaurants and houses of worship in New York and New Jersey, including places in Paterson.

It’s been a hard image for the city’s Muslims to shake as they try to assert their place as an American community like any other — one that was just made even more difficult because Saipov, who’d apparently been planning a terror attack for weeks, chose to live in Paterson, the third-largest city in New Jersey.

Former Paterson resident Raed Salhe returns to the area every so often to shop for food, but the Palestinian native worried that the latest act of terror would cast a shadow over the neighborhood. 

“I think everyone here refuses this kind of act,” he said. “But it’s going to have a bad effect on the community.” 

Salhe currently lives in West Milford, but remembers vividly the animus surrounding the community following Sept. 11, when it was revealed that some of the attackers had roots in Paterson. He recalled arguments with people who told him to go back to his country. 

“With each act starting from 9 / 11, our life has gotten worse,” Salhe said. 

'A melting pot'

The South Paterson neighborhood is home to thousands of Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians, Turks and other Middle Eastern immigrants — part of a much broader immigrant culture in the city. Its vibrant business district, centered along South Main Street, features many ethnic grocers, restaurants, shops and businesses.

Although Uzbeks aren't a large or known community in the city, immigrants like Saipov could easily fit in among the diverse nationalities that make up the area and who follow Islam. 

Some neighbors said Saipov worshipped at the Omar Mosque on Getty Avenue around the corner from his home. It's a place where Saipov could have prayed among hundreds of congregants who attend services without anyone noticing him as a new face. 

But some local residents say the openness and diversity of the neighborhood could be a draw for people like Saipov, who might view it as a place to blend in without getting any unwanted attention. 

"Paterson is not random. You come here for a reason. You have a lot of Muslims here, it is a melting pot," said Ramy Elhelw, who prays at the Omar Mosque on Fridays. "If you're lost or looking for work or looking for support or a community to take you in, Paterson has always been that community where you can fit in, find work, find new friends." 

The NYPD shared the same logic in 2012 when explaining its controversial and broad surveillance of Muslim communities including Paterson, which was the subject of two civil rights lawsuits. City police officials said, after the surveillance was uncovered, that they were looking for places where would-be terrorists might go to "lie low" so they could identify “budding terrorist conspiracies.” In Paterson, their targets of surveillance included the Omar Mosque. 

Abuassab said he did not know if Saipov attended the mosque, as some neighbors claimed, but added that the mosque is open to anybody. “They come pray and leave. Their behavior has nothing to do with a mosque, or a church, or a synagogue,” he said.

Elhelw said that mosque members did not know Saipov, but that the community, the mosque and its imam do not tolerate extremist or violent interpretations of Islam.

"I don’t think we’ve ever seen anybody in any way, shape or form who is radical or could be radical. It’s something that's looked down upon the community," Elhelw said. 

And non-Muslim residents said they got along well with their neighbors and were disappointed that the city has again been a focus of a terrorism investigation. 

"Something like this gives Paterson a bad image," said Miguel Espejel, who lives about a block away from the suspect's apartment. "Most people around here are good, decent people. We're the third biggest city in New Jersey, but no one really cares what goes on here until something like this happens."

The neighborhood is diverse and welcoming to people of different backgrounds, said Espejel, who is Hispanic. 

"There are many Muslim families, Hispanics, white families. We all get along," he said. "It's devastating that someone from our own community could do this."

Andre Sayegh, a Paterson councilman who represents the South Paterson area, said Saipove was not a "real Patersonian."

"He was only here three months," he said. "He’s not a reflection on the population." 

He urged people to look past the actions of this one individual and see South Paterson for its strengths. 

"South Paterson is arguably the strongest and safest part of the city. They're American like anyone else and making positive contributions to the city and the country," he said.

Indeed, the section of Main Street that runs through South Paterson has become one of the city’s most thriving commercial strips, a place where out-of-towners come for Middle Eastern food.

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Saipov lived less than two blocks from Main Street. Authorities are investigating Saipov’s background, but officials said preliminary indications are that the accused attacker and his family seem to have come to Paterson just a few months ago.

Neighbors said he may have worshiped at the mosque around the corner from his home, though mosque members who came for morning prayers Wednesday said they had never seen Saipov at the mosque.

"I've never seen him. I've never seen his face," Abdallah Abuzid said. "If someone does something like this, it is not the mosque." 

Authorities said there has been no evidence indicating that anyone else in Paterson — or at the mosque — was connected to his attack.

Staff writers Keldy Ortiz, Megan Burrow and Tom Nobile contributed to this report.