Man under surveillance by terror investigators is shot dead

Associated Press

BOSTON

A man who was under 24-hour surveillance by terrorism investigators was shot and killed Tuesday after he lunged with a knife at a police officer and an FBI agent outside a pharmacy, authorities said.

A law-enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation into what happened said the man had been making threats against law enforcement.

The official wasn’t authorized to release details of the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Police Commissioner William Evans said members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force approached Usaama Rahim in the city’s Roslindale neighborhood Tuesday morning to question him about “terrorist-related information” they had received when he went at officers with a large military-style knife.

Evans said officers repeatedly ordered Rahim to drop the knife but he continued to move toward them with it.

He said task force members fired their guns, hitting Rahim once in the torso and once in the abdomen. Rahim, 26, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Evans would not disclose why Rahim was under surveillance. But Evans said a “level of alarm” prompted authorities to try to question him.

“Obviously, there was enough information there where we thought it was appropriate to question him about his doings,” Evans said. “He was someone we were watching for quite a time.”

Evans later said authorities knew Rahim “had some extremism as far as his views,” but he would not confirm media reports that Rahim had been radicalized by online propaganda by the Islamic State group.

Evans said the officers didn’t have their guns drawn when they approached Rahim. He said police have video showing Rahim “coming at officers” while they are backing away.

That account differs from one given by Rahim’s brother Ibrahim Rahim, who said in a Facebook posting that his youngest brother was killed while waiting at a bus stop to go to his job.

The Suffolk district attorney’s office and the FBI said they will investigate Rahim’s shooting, a routine procedure for shootings involving police.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations will monitor the investigation, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.