Officials say a suspect who was taken into custody on Tuesday night had planned to behead a police officer with Usaama Rahim, 26, who was shot and killed earlier that day by FBI agents.
Suspect David Wright was arrested in Everett, Massachusetts, on Tuesday after the death of Rahim, who had been under 24-hour surveillance by the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Officials say Rahim lunged at FBI agents with an 8-inch military knife when he was confronted in a CVS Pharmacy parking lot.
“We believe the intent was to behead a police officer. We knew the plot had to be stopped. They were planning to take action Tuesday,” an official told The Boston Globe on Wednesday.
Rahim’s brother Ibrahim, a well-known imam at two Boston mosques, framed the shooting death as one reminiscent of Eric Garner, who died in an altercation with New York cops on July 17, 2014. Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for activists who say heavy-handed policing is used on minority suspects.
“He was on his cellphone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness. His last words to my father who heard the shots were: ’I can’t breathe!’ the imam wrote on his social media account on Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
Police officials say there is video of the altercation between Rahim and the FBI agents that may be released soon.
“We believed [Rahim] was a threat. He was someone we were watching for quite a time. The level of alarm brought us to question him today. I don’t think anybody expected the reaction we got out of him,” Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said Tuesday, the Globe reported.
The FBI and Rhode Island State Police also searched a property in Warwick, Rhode Island, in relation to the beheading post, The Associated Press reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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