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."
Ramon's brother, Ibrahim Rahim, an imam in California, disputed the police account in a Facebook post, saying police shot Usaama Rahim in the back. "He was on his cellphone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness," Ibrahim Rahim added, and his last words were "I can't breathe." You can watch Evans tell the police side of the story below. Peter Weber
The Week
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