Luke Skywalker
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U.S. Marshals patrol the waterfront side of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse during the arraignment of David Wright Wednesday, June 3,(Photo: Stephan Savoia, AP)
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans confirmed Thursday that a knife-wielding man fatally shot by terror investigators had discussed beheading a well-known conservative blogger before changing his target to police officers.
The shooting Tuesday of terror suspect Usaama Rahim, 26, was captured on surveillance video. Documents in support of conspiracy charges filed against a relative say Rahim decided to target police after abandoning a plan to behead an unidentified person.
Evans confirmed on the Today show that the person Rahim had targeted was New York-based blogger Pamela Geller, an outspoken anti-Muslim activist.
"I think that was more along the lines of wishful thinking," Evans said of Rahim's initial plan. "There was some mention of the (Geller) name, but we were focused locally. He had local roots. Our concern was with what he could do here in Boston."
Geller, 56, was a co-founder of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The group's proposals include profiling of Muslims at airports and surveillance and regular inspections of mosques for "pro-violence" materials.
"This is the state of freedom of speech in America in 2015," Geller said after the alleged plot became public. "The question is are we going to stand against this savagery?"
Evans also said he believed that everyone connected with the plot had been accounted for.
"We are still working the the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force just to make sure we tied up any loosed ends on this," Evans said on Today. "But as you can tell, this was very real, very dangerous."
Rahim's relative, David Wright, was arrested late Tuesday and appeared in federal court Wednesday, charged with conspiring to obstruct the federal investigation by destroying evidence on Rahim's phone.
In a telephone conversation intercepted last week by investigators, Rahim allegedly told Wright about a "nice little tool" he'd just purchased: a 9.75-inch Marine fighting knife, one of three the suspect had obtained. During the same conversation, the two allegedly discussed the initial attack plan in which the target's head would be placed on the chest, a tactic of terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State.
"Like thinking with your head on your chest,'' Wright told Rahim.
Around 5 a.m. Tuesday, investigators intercepted another phone conversation between the two men in which Rahim allegedly declared he could no longer wait to carry out the planned beheading, switching his focus to police.
Wright then allegedly instructed Rahim to delete information from his phone and destroy it, along with any information that could incriminate others.
A contingent of up to five investigators were assigned to track Rahim on Tuesday morning. The fatal confrontation took place hours later.
Authorities sought to soothe community tensions Wednesday in a private vieweing of the surveillance video with religious and civic leaders. Family members of Rahim has suggested that he was shot in the back while on his cellphone.
"There were many questions that were not answered," Darnell Williams, head of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said after viewing the video. "What the video did tell us was that the gentleman was not on his cellphone. The individual was not shot in the back."
Williams said the officers appeared to be retreating from Rahim before they drew and fired their weapons.
"I 150% corroborate what the commissioner said,'' Williams said.
Pamela Geller<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP)
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