Get ready for more of the same with questions surrounding the death of a muslim man being watched by the terrorism task force. The muslim community is saying Usaama Rahim was shot and killed by police for no reason. The FBI was following him for a reason and when you’re asked repeatedly to put your weapon down by the police or FBI it’s a great idea to do it. Watch for twists and turns on this one…
USAAMA RAHIM IS THE 26-YEAR OLD YOUNGER BROTHER OF A BOSTON IMAM: Facebook page of Imam Ibrahim Rahim
The Imam sent out a message blaming the police as did the director of CAIR Michigan:
“Your prayers are requested:
This morning while at the bus stop in Boston, my youngest brother Usaama Rahim was waiting for the bus to go to his job. He was confronted by three Boston Police officers and subsequently shot in the back three times. He was on his cell phone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness. His last words to my father who heard the shots were: I can’t breathe! While at the hospital, Usaama Rahim died! From Allah we come, and to Allah we return.” – Imam Ibrahim Rahim
Dawud Walid – CAIR MICHIGAN DIRECTOR SENT OUT THIS MESSAGE:
I just watched the FBI Boston press conference on the homicide of Usaama Rahim. The FBI stated that there was no arrest warrant for him this morning, and that they were merely trying to question him. The FBI didn’t state that he committed any crime whatsoever. They didn’t say if they were plain clothes agents or not. So in other words, they came up on him around dawn at a bus stop to talk with him without an arrest warrant nor sufficient evidence to charge him with any crime.
A man under 24-hour surveillance by anti-terrorism investigators was shot and fatally wounded by a Boston police officer and an FBI agent Tuesday morning as he threatened them with a large, military knife, authorities said.
Usaama Rahim, 26, attacked after he was approached in Boston’s Roslindale neighborhood as part of an “investigation that’s been going on for some time by the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Police Commissioner William B. Evans said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“We believed he was a threat,” Evans said. “He was someone we were watching for quite a time. The level of alarm brought us to question him today. I don’t think anybody expected the reaction we got out of him.”
Evans said officers retreated when Rahim approached with the knife. With their lives in danger, the officers fired, hitting Rahim with two bullets, one to the torso and one to the abdomen, he said.
Vincent Lisi, head of the Boston FBI office, would not disclose any specifics of why Rahim was being investigated.
The man shot when he approached the officer and FBI agent with a machete and refused to back down, officials said.
He said, “I can tell you that our investigation is still ongoing. There’s a lot more for us to do.” He would not comment on whether other people are being looked at in the investigation, but he said, “I don’t think there’s any concern for public safety right now.”
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said his office would investigate to determine whether the officer and agent were justified in using deadly force. While stressing that no final conclusion has been reached yet, Conley said the incident was captured by surveillance video, which appeared to show Rahim was the aggressor.
The law enforcement officials had their weapons holstered when they first approached Rahim and only pulled their guns when he brandished the knife, Conley said.
“The officers approached this individual without their firearms drawn,’’ Conley said. “It was this deceased person who drew that knife. It appears [law enforcement officials were] backing away before they exercised deadly force.’’
At the news conference, Evans displayed a large photograph of the long, deadly-looking knife allegedly used by Rahim.
Police said that the deadly encounter happened near the CVS parking lot on Washington Street at 6:59 a.m.
Rahim was rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
The officer and the agent were taken to Boston hospitals to be examined for stress, but they did not suffer physical injuries, police said.
Investigators searched an apartment building Tuesday on nearby Blue Ledge Drive as part of their investigation, but officials would not say how it was connected to the incident.
In another development, Everett police were assisting the FBI with an investigation in that city, police said. Authorities said the activity was related to the Roslindale investigation.
Everett Police Lieutenant Frank Hoenig said local police were in a support role.
He described the location federal authorities were targeting as a duplex. Hoenig said the residence was known to Everett police.“[Officers have] been there for a whole litany of things,” he said.
A woman who said she was acquainted with Rahim and his wife, said, “He and his wife, they are good people. They definitely kept to themselves.”
The woman, who said she did not want to give her name because she did not know the couple that well, said in a telephone interview, “There is nothing that I can think [of] that warrants him being investigated or followed at 7 o’clock in the morning.”
“It’s really scary,” said the woman, who said she met Rahim and his wife at the Islamic Society of Boston in Roxbury. “It’s literally hitting too close to home.”
Before officials publicly identified Rahim, his older brother, Imam Ibrahim Rahim, used social media to announce his younger brother’s death.
The elder Rahim offered a version of the story that was at odds with the official version. He said his brother had been approached by three Boston officers. He also said his brother was shot three times in the back by the officers.
He said his brother had been waiting at a bus stop to go to his job and had called their father on his cellphone so he could be a witness to the confrontation.
“He was on his cell phone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness. His last words to my father who heard the shots were: I can’t breathe!’’ Rahim wrote.
Later Tuesday, Rahim posted on Facebook that his family would not have an immediate comment to the media.
Read more: Boston Globe
