There are active investigations of several sites at one — this could ultimately end up being not just one, but a whole group of lone wolves, all misunderstanding Islam together.
“Man shot in Roslindale was under 24-hour surveillance,” by Evan Allen, Laura Crimaldi, John R. Ellement and Martin Finucane, Boston Globe, June 2, 2015 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
A man under 24-hour surveillance by anti-terrorism investigators was shot and fatally wounded by a Boston police officer and an FBI agent Tuesday morning as he threatened them with a large, military knife, authorities said.
Usaama Rahim, 26, attacked after he was approached in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood as part of an “investigation that’s been going on for some time by the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Police Commissioner William B. Evans said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“We believed he was a threat,” Evans said. “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.”
Rahim had been making threats against law enforcement, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.
Evans said officers retreated when Rahim approached them with the knife. With their lives in danger, the officers fired, hitting Rahim with two bullets, one to the torso and one to the abdomen, he said.
The man shot when he approached the officer and FBI agent with a machete and refused to back down, officials said.
Vincent Lisi, head of the Boston FBI office, would not disclose any specifics of why Rahim was being investigated.
He said, “I can tell you that our investigation is still ongoing. There’s a lot more for us to do.” He would not comment on whether other people are being looked at in the investigation, but he said, “I don’t think there’s any concern for public safety right now.”
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said his office would investigate to determine whether the officer and agent were justified in using deadly force. While stressing that no final conclusion has been reached yet, Conley said the incident was captured by surveillance video, which appeared to show Rahim was the aggressor.
The law enforcement officials had their weapons holstered when they first approached Rahim and only pulled their guns when he brandished the knife, Conley said.
“The officers approached this individual without their firearms drawn,’’ Conley said. “It was this deceased person who drew that knife. It appears [law enforcement officials were] backing away before they exercised deadly force.’’
At the news conference, Evans displayed a large photograph of the long, deadly-looking knife allegedly used by Rahim. The picture appeared to show a large black combat knife with a blade 7 inches long. Including the handle, the knife appeared to be about a foot long.
Lieutenant Detective Michael McCarthy, a Boston police spokesman, said the suspect got so close to the officers they needed to defend themselves. He said officers have to protect themselves if an armed suspect approaches within 21 feet.
Police said that the deadly encounter happened near the CVS parking lot on Washington Street at 6:59 a.m.
Rahim was rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
The officer and the agent were taken to Boston hospitals to be examined for stress, but they did not suffer physical injuries, police said.
Investigators searched an apartment building Tuesday on nearby Blue Ledge Drive as part of their investigation, but officials would not say how it was connected to the incident.
In another development, Everett police were assisting the FBI with an investigation in that city, police said. Authorities said the activity was related to the Roslindale investigation.
Everett Police Lieutenant Frank Hoenig said local police were in a support role.
He described the location federal authorities were targeting as a duplex. Hoenig said the residence was known to Everett police.“[Officers have] been there for a whole litany of things” but never for a terrorism-related investigation, he said.
Investigators were also searching a property in Warwick, R.I., according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
A woman who said she was acquainted with Rahim and his wife, said, “He and his wife, they are good people. They definitely kept to themselves.”
The woman, who said she did not want to give her name because she did not know the couple that well, said in a telephone interview that she had met the couple at the Islamic Society of Boston in Roxbury. “There is nothing that I can think [of] that warrants him being investigated or followed at 7 o’clock in the morning,” she said.
Yusufi Vali, executive director of the Islamic Society of Boston, said in an interview at the mosque that he did not recall ever meeting Rahim.
He said thousands of visitors walk through the mosque every week, and since Rahim lived in Roslindale, it is possible that he came in at some point. However, Vali said, “he never prayed here regularly, nor volunteered here, nor was in any leadership positions.”
Before officials publicly identified Rahim, his older brother, Imam Ibrahim Rahim, used social media to announce his younger brother’s death.
The elder Rahim offered a version of the story that was at odds with the official version. He said his brother had been approached by three Boston officers. He also said his brother was shot three times in the back.
He said his brother had been waiting at a bus stop to go to his job and had called their father on his cellphone so he could be a witness to the confrontation.
“He was on his cell phone 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!’’ Rahim wrote….
Brian says
One caught…what I wonder is how many more one-man or two-man cells are there in the USA and Europe.
Kepha says
As usual, WTOP news said nothing about this dead assailant’s identity or name.
revereridesagain says
Video of the encounter, which will prove that claims of the lying imam “elder Rahim” are a crock of taqiyya, will not be shown to the public until they have been viewed by “community leaders” — at the Boston Islamic Society. I hope this is the FBI’s idea, because I would hate to think that the Boston PD would initiate such a display of dhimmitude.
John Duffin says
Had his hands up! Don’t shoot!! We have heard that line before. Ferguson or something like that. And all the witnesses were liars.
Joseph says
Momma always said “NOT TO PLAY WITH KNIVES”………………….Well at least my mom did, I don’t know about his.
Arthur says
He said, “I can tell you that our investigation is still ongoing. There’s a lot more for us to do.” He would not comment on whether other people are being looked at in the investigation, but he said, “I don’t think there’s any concern for public safety right now.”
——————–
At least as long as Usaama Rahim stays dead, we should be safe, from him, for now. But we’re all in trouble if he wakes back up and starts moaning, “Braiiiins! Braiiiins!”
Angemon says
Arthur posted:
“But we’re all in trouble if he wakes back up and starts moaning, “Braiiiins! Braiiiins!””
That reminded me of this:
Angemon says
quran 47:4
When you meet the unbelievers, strike at their necks
Wait, what? So he was a Person of Interest who had been making threats against law enforcement and they were not expecting that kind of reaction from him?
Seems a pretty standard case to me. Let’s see how CAIR will spin this into a tale of “islamophobia”…
Good. They’re doing their job, despite being hamstrung by political correctness and unable to make any connections between islam and terrorism.
Let’s hope that this time facts DO matter. #coplivesmatter
What, you don’t carry one of those with you all the time? sarc./ off
No physical injuries, eh? Good.
Seems pretty standard stuff to me – no comments on an ongoing investigation. Again, it wouldn’t surprise me if, for example, CAIR would demand to know the reason that drove the police there.
Huh? If they kept to themselves why is she so sure they were good people? They could be serial killers, for all she knows.
Just enough to assure us they were good people, despite the guy carrying a knife and attacking law enforcement agents.
Then again, she admitted she didn’t know him very well. Seeing what he was carrying and how he reacted, it’s obvious something was afoot.
So… excuse 23-C? A classic!
And whatever accomplices he had on whatever he was involved have surely went into hiding, like cockroaches when the lights are turned on…
Did he shouted “Hands up, don’t shoot, hashtag muslim lives matter” as well?
Wait, what? How did he knew there was going to be a confrontation? And exactly when did he had the time to call someone? Did he started dialing as soon as he saw the cops?
Shot in the back, “can’t breathe”… Can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing… Oh, yeah, was he selling counterfeit cigarettes and out for Skittles as well?
Jack HOLAN says
DA D Conley still can’t determine if this a good shoot by law enforcement? And he has video? SHAME. I can tell you first hand that many involved in some type of law enforcement are looking at all their options! They don’t care to go to prison because of a politically motivated DA or Street Court
Jack Gordon says
Congratulations to the Boston cop who practiced enough with his gun and was able to put a quick end to this Mohammedan warrior’s career. May all Mohammedan warriors meet a similar fate.
Whocares says
One less bearded cell. It is very good.