BOSTON—A knife-wielding black man killed by the terror investigators who had him under surveillance was confronted because he had purchased knives and talked of an imminent attack on “boys in blue,” the FBI said Wednesday.
Usaama Rahim plotted for at least a week to attack police, the FBI said in a complaint against David Wright, who was arrested the same day Rahim was shot to death. Wright was ordered held Wednesday on a charge of conspiracy with intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
The FBI says the two men bought three fighting knives and a knife sharpener on or before May 26, and alleges that Rahim told Wright Tuesday that he would begin trying to randomly kill police officers in Massachusetts.
Faced with an imminent threat, the anti-terror task force of FBI agents and Boston police confronted Rahim on a sidewalk, and fatally shot him when he refused to drop his knife, authorities said.
Authorities moved swiftly Wednesday to manage public perceptions of the shooting.
Video Recording
The FBI complaint refers to part of a recorded conversation between Rahim, 26, and Wright, 24, in which Wright made a comparison to “thinking with your head on your chest.” The FBI alleges that this was a reference to Islamic State propaganda videos showing severed heads on the chests of beheading victims.
Rahim’s family is prominent among Muslims in Boston, where his mother is a nurse at Boston University. His older brother, Ibrahim Rahim, is a scholar known for preaching that violence is anti-Islamic after the Boston marathon bombings.
