Summary: A plot to allegedly behead law enforcement officers was foiled this week in the Boston area.
According to legal documents filed in Boston’s federal court, a man who was killed by police officers on Tuesday had talked about his plan to behead police officers with another individual who was also arrested on the same day.
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According to Reuters, Usaamah Abdullah Rahim was shot and killed by police officers after he confronted them with a large knife. Rahim, 26, told David Wright “I’m just going to ah, go after them, those boys in blue,” according to an affidavit of an FBI agent. CBS Boston adds that law enforcement is still searching for other individuals who may have been involved with the plot.
In January, an Ohio man was arrested for planning a terrorist attack.
Rahim had purchased several large knives on the Internet, and had joked around in wiretapped telephone conversations with Wright about “thinking with your head on your chest.” According to FBI Special Agent Joseph Galietta, this was interpreted as “a reference of some foreign terrorist organizations to behead targets and place their heads on their chests in propaganda videos.”
[poll id=”651″]Wright was arrested just outside of Boston, in the suburb of Everett, on Tuesday. Wright allegedly told Rahim that he should destroy his computer and smartphone to eliminate evidence of the plot.
Wright was in court Wednesday for a criminal charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The CIA said in 2013 it was ready to classify the NFL as a domestic terrorist organization.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force previously had Rahim under 24-hour surveillance.
Apparently, Rahim originally planned to go outside of Massachusetts for his attack on the police, but on Tuesday he told Wright that he changed his mind and would carry out his plans locally. According to the New York Times, a law enforcement official, speaking on background, said that Rahim had become radicalized by militant Islam websites.
19 were killed in a terrorist attack in Tunisia in March.
Local FBI officials, prosecutors, and William Evans, the Boston Police Commissioner, met on Wednesday with neighborhood leaders where the incident occurred to show video of the shooting. Darnell Williams, the chief executive of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said, “The individual was not shot in the back and the information that was reported by others that this was the case is inaccurate.”
The video was not released to the public. In the video, officers are seen backing up before firing shots.
Source: Reuters
Photo credit: boston.cbslocal.com
