Dead Boston suspect planned to behead police – prosecutors

NEW YORK, USA – A 26-year-old security guard shot dead by police and the FBI in Boston planned to behead American police officers at random to wage violent jihad, court papers said Wednesday, June 3.

Usaamah Rahim purchased 3 military-style knives and a sharpener from Amazon.com before allegedly deciding to “go after” the “boys in blue” because they were “the easiest target.”

But he was killed outside a pharmacy at 7 am local time on Tuesday, June 2. Police said he refused to drop his weapon and lunged towards five retreating officers, who then shot him to save their lives.

An alleged associate, David Wright, 25, appeared in court Wednesday charged with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation.

He was allegedly fully informed of Rahim’s plans and ordered him to delete his phone and computer data, and destroy his Smart phone to prevent it falling into the hands of law enforcement.

Court papers said Rahim, who lived in Boston, had been “planning to engage in a violent attack in the United States” since May 26 – little over a week before his death.

He allegedly ordered 3 knives from Amazon, which were delivered to his home, and discussed his plan with Wright and a third person on a beach in Rhode Island last Sunday, May 31.

Wright allegedly told the FBI the first plan was to behead an unnamed victim in another state, but Rahim telephoned him at 5 am on the morning of his death to change his mind.

Instead he told Wright that he was going to “go after” the “boys in blue,” and randomly kill police officers in Massachusetts – either on Tuesday or Wednesday – the court papers said.

It was with one of the knives purchased from Amazon that Rahim lunged towards officers two hours later, court papers alleged.

Wright was arrested overnight and accused with conspiring with Rahim to destroy, mutilate, conceal and cover up his smart phone in order to obstruct an investigation, which is a federal offense.

Rahim at first had plotted to behead Pamela Geller, an activist and conservative blogger, law enforcement sources told CNN television. She was in the spotlight last month when a security officer stopped an attack at her group’s contest for Prophet Mohammed drawings in Garland, Texas.

Not shot in the back

If convicted, Rahim faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said there had been intelligence for “weeks” that military and law enforcement lives were at threat.

Authorities put out “several notices” about the threat of attack on law enforcement and military bases, he added.

The court papers made no mention of when, where or how Rahim may have become susceptible to extremist Islamist thought.

A senior official warned last week that the United States launches a new investigation into suspected sympathizers of the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria almost every day.

On Wednesday, a Muslim community leader shown a video of Rahim’s death, said there was no evidence to back up a claim from his family that he had been shot in the back as he waited for the bus.

“It was not at a bus stop. He was not shot in the back,” Imam Abdullah Faaruuq told reporters.

It was not clear what happened and the knife was not visible but “he was approaching them. They did back up,” Faaruuq acknowledged.

Evans said the video showed five law enforcement officers retreating with their hands up, and that witness and officer accounts had detailed commands on the suspect to drop his weapon.

“You see them go a good 15 yards with a threat coming at them. We can all agree. The weaponry is not clear, but with five officers coming at them, there was no doubt in the video,” said Evans. – Jennie Matthew, AFP / Rappler.com