BOSTON — A 26-year-old terror suspect who was fatally shot in Boston on Tuesday during a confrontation with FBI agents and Boston police had planned to randomly kill police officers in his home state, according to federal court documents.
In a criminal complaint made public Wednesday, an investigator said Usaamah Abdullah Rahim had recently bought three fighting knives on Amazon and at first planned to behead some unknown person in another state.
CNN reported that person to be Pamela Geller, a conservative blogger who drew national attention last month when a Mohammed cartoon event her organization sponsored in Texas was the target of two men who were killed minutes before they could attempt to carry out their attack.
In a conversation with a friend, which was recorded by the FBI, Rahim spoke about “thinking with your head on your chest.” Both men laughed. The FBI said in an affidavit that the remark was “a reference to the practice of some foreign terrorist organizations to behead targets and place their heads on their chests in propaganda videos.”
The friend, David Wright of Everett, Mass., was arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. A third man was being questioned in Rhode Island, officials said.
According to the complaint, Rahim planned to stage an attack at the beginning of June, telling Wright in a phone call that he was going to “go after” the “boys in blue,” which the FBI said referred to police officers.
About two hours after the phone conversation, a knife-wielding Rahim approached FBI agents and Boston police officers, who ordered him to drop the weapon.
“You drop yours,” Rahim said, according to the complaint. He then moved toward the officers and was shot.
