The driver in New York’s deadly vehicle attack had been planning it for weeks and did it “in the name of Isis”, a New York police department official has said.

Deputy Commissioner John Miller made the remarks at a briefing on Wednesday by city, state and US federal officials.

Officers respond to a report of gunfire along West Street near the pedestrian bridge at Stuyvesant High <a href=School in lower Manhattan in New York">(Martin Speechley/AP)

He said there were “multiple knives” in addition to imitation guns displayed by the attacker, who was wounded by a police officer.

Hundreds of detectives worked through the night following the Tuesday attack.

Among other things, they’ve been “meticulously” collecting security video along the road that the suspect used before mowing down people on a bike path next to the World Trade Centre, killing eight people.