A man being investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston planned to “randomly kill police officers” this week, according to court documents.
According to a court affidavit, Usaama Rahim originally planned to kill someone out of state, but later changed his plan to “go after” the “boys in blue,” as he was overheard saying in a phone call. At one point, Rahim made a comparison to “thinking with your head on your chest,” which FBI officials say is a possible reference to Islamic State propaganda videos showing severed heads on the chests of beheading victims.
Law enforcement sources tell NBC News that activist and conservative blogger Pamela Gellar — the woman behind the controversial “Draw Muhammad” competition — may also have been a target, but noted that the alleged plot to kill police was more believable that the “fantasy” to behead Geller.
“We don’t know whether they even knew where to find her,” a source said.
Rahim was under 24-hour surveillance by terrorism investigators before he was shot and killed by police around 7 a.m. Tuesday in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans has said that authorities were watching Rahim “for quite a time,” but “a level of alarm” prompted them to try to question him Tuesday. He said authorities knew Rahim “had some extremism as far as his views,” but he would not confirm media reports that Rahim had been radicalized by online propaganda by the Islamic State group.
The FBI also arrested an Everett man on conspiracy charges Tuesday in connection with the Rahim investigation. David Wright, 26, appeared in federal court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing on June 19 at 2 p.m. A law enforcement source later told necn that Rahim and Wright were relatives, but did not specify how they were related.
A court affidavit filed Wednesday by FBI agent J. Joseph Galietta details his agency’s investigation into Rahim and Wright.
Galietta said the Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation revealed that Rahim had been planning to engage in a “violent attack in the United States,” which was confirmed during an interview with Wright on Tuesday.
He said Rahim “took several steps in furtherance of this plan, including the purchase of three fighting knives and a knife sharpener frm Amazon.com” on May 26. The next day, Rahim called Wright and told him “I just got myself a nice little tool. You know it’s good for carving wood and like, you know, carving sculptures … and you know …” Wright and Rahim then both began laughing.
Rahim then told Wright about a plan, in which he was involved, to kill a person outside of Massachusetts.
Five days later, on May 31, Rahim, Wright and a third person met on a beach in Rhode Island to discuss their plans. In his interview with FBI agents on Tuesday, Wright said those plans included the beheading of the planned victim in another state.
Two days later, on Tuesday, June 2, Rahim called Wright and told him he had changed his plans and no longer planned to commit an attack in another state. Instead, he said he was going to “go after” the “boys in blue,” which is believed to be a reference to killing police officers.
Later in the conversation, Rahim revealed to Wright that he planned to randomly kill police officers in Massachusetts either on Tuesday, June 2 or on Wednesday, June 3. Afterward, Wright told Rahim to delete information from, and destroy, his smartphone and wipe his laptop computer.
Members of the FBI and Rhode Island State Police searched a home on Aspinet Drive in Warwick, Rhode Island, on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was “court authoritized activity,” according to a FBI spokesperson in Boston; however, it was not confirmed that the search was linked to the Boston shooting.
Vincent Lisi, special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office, said authorities “don’t think there’s any concern for public safety out there right now.
Earlier on Wednesday, Boston Police showed video of the fatal police shooting to clergy and members of the Muslim community in a closed meeting.
Members of the city’s Muslim community said the video is “inconclusive,” though it does corroborate police accounts that Rahim was not shot in the back. The video won’t be released to public until the investigation is complete.
“The film, the video is inconclusive,” said Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, speaking on behalf of the Muslim community. “I don’t think he was shot in the back, however, we couldn’t see clearly at all… if he was brandishing a knife at all. So we can’t be clear as to what transpired.”
Darnell Williams, president and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said the video also showed that Rahim was not on a cell phone when he was shot.
That description differs from one given by Rahim’s brother Ibrahim Rahim, who said in a Facebook posting that his youngest brother was killed while waiting at a bus stop to go to his job.
“He was confronted by three Boston Police officers and subsequently shot in the back three times,” he wrote. “He was on his cellphone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness.”
Ibrahim Rahim, a former assistant imam at a Boston mosque and current imam at Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, could not immediately be reached for more comment Tuesday. In an email, he said he was traveling to Boston to bury his brother. He also tweeted: “Pray4 my younger brother Usaama Rahim shot 3X in his back by Boston Police then dying His last words I can’t breathe.”
Evans said what is clear from the video is that Rahim approached the officers, who did not have their weapons drawn, and they retreated. Police have said that Rahim came at them with a large, military-style knife and refused repeated requests to drop the weapon. They then fired their guns, hitting him three times.
Usaama Rahim’s autopsy was completed by noon on Wednesday with all of the religious requirements being observed, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office. His body will be released to a funeral home for buriel later on Wednesday. The name of the funeral home is not known.
“The issue now is about the living,” Faaruuq said. “The family is pained and suffering. However this pans out, a mother has lost her child, her youngest.”
all talk and allegations
just like they tell us, “aint a dam thing you can do about it until he acts” , so STFU and wait, oh too late they freaking killed him
One guy goes a little bonkers and wanted to randomly kill cops. Meanwhile, it seems cops kill civilians randomly every day.
-flek