The crime scene. Photo by Chris.
A man under surveillance by a federal terrorism task force was shot around 7 a.m. outside the CVS on Washington Street at West Roxbury Parkway. He was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he died.
Antoinette Antonio reports both an FBI agent and a Boston police officer opened fire when the man displayed what the Globe reports was a "military-style knife". The Globe quotes Police Commissioner William Evans as saying the man approached officers with the weapon and disregarded several demands to drop it.
Ibrahim Rahim, an imam who spent two decades at Masjid Al-Quran mosque in Dorchester, identifies the man as his brother, Usaama. In a Facebook posting, he paints a different picture:
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!
Police are also swarmed Blue Ledge Drive behind the plaza.
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Comments
That is the sketchiest CVS
By Gary C
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:35am
Even though it's nearby, I never go in that one.
I always read about drug busts in that parking lot.
And we've been going there for years
By adamg
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:39am
And never had a problem.
But, yeah, the drugs aren't just for sale inside.
Jinx!
By erik g
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:39am
You owe me a Coke.
person of interest
By Anonymous
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 5:29pm
To me, it looks like they found him suspicious by surveillance of his on-line activity. I wonder if he made credible threats of violence or just read the wrong websites.
nbcnews:
Only problem I have with it
By tmrozzie
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:14am
is that your prescriptions are NEVER ready when they say they are.
Didn't hear a thing this morning around there. Weird.
problematic investigation
By Anonymous
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:05pm
Apparently there is video of the confrontation so we'll have video evidence to compare to the FBI agents and BPD officer's account (...years from now when the criminal trial and civil suits are over. Criminal trial? Who am I kidding?)
Only at UHub did I learn three officers approached the man.
At the press conference covered on Fox 25, Suffolk DA, a G-man Boss and Commissioner Davis, talked about conducting a transparent investigation then took questions and answered none of them.
A lot of good questions were being asked including why they chose that moment to question the man. I find it frustrating that secrecy is the first and last step in sudden deaths by law enforcement. There will be plenty of leaks later if the evidence starts looking bad for law enforcement.
It used to be the case the state police would investigate police-related homicides to mitigate conflict of interest. One problem with JTTF is that it involved FBI, State and Boston police so where do we go to investigate without conflict?
Ibragim Todashev was shot and killed while being questioned by FBI and MA state police. The FBI cleared it as they do all homicides in FBI custody. (Quite literally all.) That is another reason why today's homicide presents a problematic investigation.
The Todashev case had issues.
By anon
Wed, 06/03/2015 - 2:22am
Todashev was a mixed martial arts ace which means he was as dangerous with his hands as most are with a gun.
Then you have the history of Chechen terrorism abroad. The FBI goobs probably knew about Beslan. It was pretty vicious and grim and then the Russians made a clumsy hash of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_siege
Chechnya has been a fractious region forever. Lermontov wrote some great short stories about it when he was stationed there in the Czarist military in the 19th century.
I'm normally not one to wave pom poms for law enforcement but I am a fan of context and plausibility.
I was reading a dispatch from one of my Iraq sources this morning that noted many of the daesh fighters there and in Syria are foreigners.
Here's a back story piece on one idiot from Australia.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/05/western-traveled-b...
I'd argue that these are all factors in why cops are unusually nervous when dealing with these people. Sky god religions are trouble no matter what. Especially in that region where Israel has a form of apartheid up and running and Wahabist Saudis engage in back stabbing intrigue to contain Shiite Iran.
At this time, Iran is the stabilizing force and it has come a long way since Khomeini. Their foreign minister has had some hilarious critiques of the GOP congress.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/03/schools-senators-r...
Drug bust gone wrong?
By erik g
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:39am
This is the CVS right next door to the Burger King that residents keep complaining is a frequent site for drug deals, yes? Was this related?
dude had a machete
By kernelPanic
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:44am
... according to the story at bostonglobe.com
Was it a machete??
By Dot net
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:54am
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/201...
That's quite a bit of a walk back by BPD and FBI, from machete to military-style knife, if it's accurate.
Understandable
By BostonDog
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 12:10pm
He needed a big knife to cut through the 100' of receipt they give you at CVS.
Problem Solved
By Hyde_Parker
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 3:50pm
I stopped using my CVS card. The receipts returned to a normal length. I realized that I was never able to use the coupons I got with the card (I just bought vitamins, so why would I need a coupon for...more vitamins?) so why bother using the card?
I live down the street and
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 9:16am
I live down the street and didn't hear any sirens go by...I must be used to them b/c of the police station. I sop there and have never had a problem. We are in the city so this stuff does happen.
You're used to violent
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 9:35am
You're used to violent machete-wielding men in your neighborhood? Lived in Boston for over 10 years now and I've never seen this, thankfully.
Cops Shoot Innocent Person
By John Costello
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:12am
CVS now offers other products as an effort to increase their consumer base beyond milk and simple groceries.
I'm sure his wife said grab my pill prescription, some of those good chocolate chip cookies, some Pantene, and harvest a bushel of raw cane. That's why he had a machete at 745 in the morning in Roslindale. I'm sure of it. This man was innocent. Let's protest.
10:12!
By erik g
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:19am
OK, who had 10:12 AM in the "when will someone make an inane comparison to Ferguson" pool? Step up and collect your prize, a lecture about how cops wouldn't shoot people if they would just stop acting so darn ethnic.
Erik - Send Me Your Address
By John Costello
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 11:13am
I need to send you the Snarko-1000. Calm down folks. We may have prevented another East London beheading today.
Needs calibration
By erik g
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 12:24pm
Damnit, I need to get my sarcasm meter recalibrated. I'm a little trigger-happy with folks on the internet, after the last few months.
But I think the pool still ends if someone makes the post ironically.
Cane standing
By roadman
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:25am
in the seasonal aisle. Gettin' old and red.
with apologies to Tom Rush
Did he have a machete John?
By Bob Leponge
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 1:38pm
Did he have a machete? Or a "military style knife"? Or nothing at all? Which version of the story are you buying and why?
knife
By Anonymous
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:27pm
knife. nbcnews.
not a good outcome for police, worse for person of interest
By Nancy L
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:22pm
Authorities said there's video. We'll see what happened at the moment of confrontation.
They may have a valid self-defense claim or it may be the older brother's narrative that proves to be true.
Still, you'd like to think three officers could take him into custody without killing him, even if he pulls a knife.
It's not a good outcome when the police kill a person of interest when they just wanted to ask him questions.
I'm used to crazy shit
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:24am
I'm used to crazy shit happening in the city. It won't stop me from going to that CVS as I don't consider it sketchy. My version of sketchy is apparently different than others.
Yes
By Steeve
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 12:26pm
I live in East Boston.
Just saw a press conference
By Hardy Har Har
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 9:17am
Just saw a press conference with the police commissioner - suspect has died. Had been stopped by Boston police and the FBI. Joint Terrorism Task Force involved.
CVS,....did he happen to posses
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 1:11pm
a prescription from Dr. Rand Paul?
Two paper town department
By Brian Riccio
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 9:47am
Globe: Man armed with machete killed by police.
Herald: Possible ISIS member killed by joint BPD/FBI Terrorism Task Force.
You forgot one
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 9:58am
West Roxbury Transcript: Roslindale hit with terrorist crime wave. Calls for border fence increase.
Globe: Man armed with machete
By Dave
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:43am
Boston.com: Man under surveillance by terror investigators is killed.
headlines
By Anonymous
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:34pm
I've seen the knife per nbcnews, The Globe is wrong.
I don't where the Herald is getting corroborated info the deceased was affiliated with ISIS. Authorities aren't talking. Who else would know?
I say boston.com wins today's award for most reasoned headline given the evidence at hand.
Don't you know?
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:57pm
Every dead or arrested Muslim is affiliated with ISIS. QED.
Another crime/criminal in Roslindale... big surprise...
By Matt
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:04am
I grew up in Roslindale on HP ave and the town/area in general just keeps declining with each year that passes (I know this happened up on Washington street and the same goes for that area)... I don't care how many new developments go up (i.e. the apartments and restraunt where the funeral home used to be). The police don't patrol the neighborhood often enough and I constantly see folks (thugs) drinking, smoking weed and littering without a damn care or show any respect to anyone but themselves... Depressing.
Community has to get involved
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:28am
Community has to get involved as well.
No
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:33am
Just no.
(thugs)?
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:38am
Like generally hoodlum-ism type people or you know... those kind of 'thugs'?
I feel serious crime is pretty neutral here in the past 11 years. That unsolved murder from Jan 2014 stands out as pretty unacceptable though. I wouldn't say I feel that the neighborhood has really improved or declined much over that time. Similar amount of shops, litter and traffic. K-5 schools are still pretty good, but BPS admin still pretty meh. Etc...
Crime/criminal?
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 11:27am
He was tried and convicted of something, then sentenced to death by a jury?
I live directly across the
By Sarai
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 11:56am
I live directly across the street from today's crime scene and heard the shots this a.m
This neighborhood has gotten MUCH better in recent years...have lived here on and off, in my family's multifamily for the past 35-years.
Not safe but far safer than it was 10-15 years ago...
"Not safe but far safer than it was 10-15 years ago..."
By Matt
Wed, 06/03/2015 - 1:36pm
Maybe that end of the town is but if you click on the "Crime" link for this site it lists 12 incidents in the past six months for just Roslindale alone... and those are just the ones reported on.
Glad things have improved for you on that end though. :)
Surveillance Planes?
By kjd153
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:18am
Pretty sure I've seen a couple of tweets lately about planes flying in circles over this area (including one tweet with a link to the flight path). I wonder if this guy is the explanation for that activity similar to when the plane was over Quincy monitoring the taxi driver buddy of the marathon bombers.
I thought those planes
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:26am
I thought those planes belonged to the Mayor and that they were looking for us weed smokers.
It will be interesting to see what the real story is.
FBI behind mysterious surveillance aircraft over US cities
By anon
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:35am
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4b3f220e33b64123a39...
A little over a year ago..
By Stephmcc
Wed, 06/03/2015 - 12:54pm
Seems relevant to the location in question: http://www.universalhub.com/2014/somebodgy-took-so...
roslindale dunks
By bostnkid
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:25am
my mom crashed into that tiny little dunkin donuts about 8 years ago. put in her order and hit the gas instead of the break. quite a scene.
didn't expect to laugh at this story...
By roaduser
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 11:23am
this comment made me giggle (hope your mom was okay!)
Could it be that
By Anne Weatherbee
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:41am
the machete was a throw down? Yeah, a lot of cops keep one I their cruiser just in case- oh wait a minute, maybe that's in the Congo that they do that. - sorry
Again, no.
By Whurlz
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:58am
Just so much NO to be found here today.
throwdown
By Anonymous
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 4:39pm
I doubt it but it's possible. There is a big conflicting gap in the stories told by police/FBI supervisors and the older brother of the deceased (who was not at the scene.) I heard there was video. If there is, they should to release it.
Hmm
By bosguy22
Wed, 06/03/2015 - 9:10am
So the relative of the deceased, who was not at the scene, said his brother did nothing wrong....shocking.
Used to work with refugees in West Africa
By Grizzly Mama
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 10:56am
Some would tell me that they heard one bad thing in the US is that one couldn't just wander around one's neighborhood with a machete, no fields in wish to go bushwacking.
I think that there's an out and out ban
By be
Tue, 06/02/2015 - 5:04pm
on them here in Somerville. They can be useful for bushwhacking in the back yard if your landlord's got "deferred maintenance" issues.
Girlfriend of mine in high school, back in the Rust Belt, used to go back to visit family in Panama during Summer breaks. She amassed a small collection of actual machetes that she would pick up at market (this was the mid 80s, so no issues w/TSA). Neat tools. Actually came in handy once during a home invasion.
(I keep a baseball bat around that my old landlord's brother in law gave me when folks went away for a while, leaving me to take care of the house.)
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