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 Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, 26, who law enforcement officers shot to
death after he allegedly confronted them with a large knife, had
told David Wright "I'm just going to, ah, go after them, those boys
in blue," an FBI agent involved in the investigation said in an
affidavit.
Rahim had ordered three knives, with blades ranging in length from 8
inches (20 cm) to 9.75 inches (25 cm), from online retailers and had
joked in wire-tapped phone conversations with Wright, 24, about
"thinking with your head on your chest," according to the affidavit.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joseph Galietta
described that as "a reference to the practice of some foreign
terrorist organizations to behead targets and place their heads on
their chests in propaganda videos."
The Islamic State group, based in Syria and Iraq, over the past year
has released multiple videos depicting the apparent beheadings of
captives, including several foreign journalists.
Law enforcement in Boston has been on high alert since a pair of
ethnic Chechen brothers killed three people and injured 264 others
with a pair of homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the 2013 Boston
Marathon. The surviving brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was convicted of
that attack and sentenced to death.
DEFENSE URGES TRANSPARENCY
Wright, who was arrested late Tuesday in the Boston suburb of
Everett, advised Rahim to destroy his computer and smartphone to
ensure there was no record of the plot, the affidavit said.
Wright, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches (2 meters) tall and was dressed
in a black T-shirt, sat quietly as Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley
informed him he had been charged with conspiracy to obstruct
justice, which carries a possible five-year prison sentence. Wright
did not enter a plea.
Kelley ordered Wright into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service
ahead of a June 19 detention and probable cause hearing.
"I would urge the government, the FBI and law enforcement in
investigating this case and related cases to be as transparent as
possible and, in enforcing the law, to abide by the law," Wright's
attorney Jessica Hedges said after his court appearance. "We have
serious concerns about that already."
TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR SURVEILLANCE
Rahim had been under 24-hour surveillance by the Joint Terrorism
Task Force, officials said.
Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism
division, discussed the investigation at a Congressional hearing on
Wednesday, saying:
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"We know ISIL has put out a message to attack the West, specifically
law enforcement, military," referring to Islamic State.
Rahim had planned to travel out of state with an unnamed partner for
his attack but early on Tuesday told Wright he had changed his mind
and would attack police officers in Massachusetts, according to the
affidavit.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters that when
police officers and FBI agents approached Rahim in a parking lot
near his job on Tuesday morning to question him, Rahim pulled out a
large knife and advanced on them.
When officers told him to drop the weapon, Rahim replied, "you drop
yours," according to the affidavit.
Evans, local FBI officials and prosecutors met on Wednesday with
leaders of the neighborhood where the shooting occurred to show them
video of the incident.
"The individual was not shot in the back and the information that
was reported by others that this was the case is inaccurate," said
Darnell Williams, chief executive of the Urban League of Eastern
Massachusetts, after the meeting.
The video was not released publicly.
The apparently foiled attack came six months after two New York City
police officers were shot dead in their patrol car in retribution
for police killings of unarmed black men.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by
James Dalgleish)
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