Police in Boston shoot suspected potential terrorist who reportedly lunged with knife

Police in Boston shot dead a suspected potential terrorist

(Image credit: AP/YouTube)

published 3 June 2015

On Tuesday, a police officer and FBI agent in Boston shot dead Usaama Rahim, 26, a Boston resident who police said had been under 24-hour surveillance by anti-terrorism investigators. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the agent and officer had approached Rahim outside a CVS to ask him about "some terrorist-related information we had received." Late Tuesday, FBI agents arrested a man named David Wright in the Boston suburb of Everett in connection with the Rahim investigation.

Rahim pulled out a military-style knife and approached the officers, who backed away and drew their guns, Evans said, and the officers fired when they felt Rahim was threatening their lives. He said there is video of the encounter. "We believed he was a threat," Evans said of Rahim. "He was someone we were watching for quite a time — constant dialogue between us and the FBI. The level of alarm brought us to question him today. I don't think anyone expected the reaction we were going to get out of him."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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