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FBI, BPD shoot and kill suspect outside Roslindale drugstore; say he wouldn't drop large knife, but brother disputes that
By adamg on Tue, 06/02/2015 - 8:11am
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
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
And never had a problem.
But, yeah, the drugs aren't just for sale inside.
Jinx!
You owe me a Coke.
person of interest
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
is that your prescriptions are NEVER ready when they say they are.
Didn't hear a thing this morning around there. Weird.
problematic investigation
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.
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-basement.html
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-resolution.html
Drug bust gone wrong?
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
... according to the story at bostonglobe.com
Was it a machete??
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/06/02/knife-wielding...
That's quite a bit of a walk back by BPD and FBI, from machete to military-style knife, if it's accurate.
Understandable
He needed a big knife to cut through the 100' of receipt they give you at CVS.
Problem Solved
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
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
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
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!
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
I need to send you the Snarko-1000. Calm down folks. We may have prevented another East London beheading today.
Needs calibration
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
in the seasonal aisle. Gettin' old and red.
with apologies to Tom Rush
Did he have a machete John?
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
knife. nbcnews.
not a good outcome for police, worse for person of interest
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
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
I live in East Boston.
Just saw a press conference
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
a prescription from Dr. Rand Paul?
Two paper town department
Globe: Man armed with machete killed by police.
Herald: Possible ISIS member killed by joint BPD/FBI Terrorism Task Force.
You forgot one
West Roxbury Transcript: Roslindale hit with terrorist crime wave. Calls for border fence increase.
Globe: Man armed with machete
Boston.com: Man under surveillance by terror investigators is killed.
headlines
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?
Every dead or arrested Muslim is affiliated with ISIS. QED.
Another crime/criminal in Roslindale... big surprise...
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
Community has to get involved as well.
No
Just no.
(thugs)?
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?
He was tried and convicted of something, then sentenced to death by a jury?
I live directly across the
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..."
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?
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
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
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4b3f220e33b64123a3909c60845da045/fbi-behi...
A little over a year ago..
Seems relevant to the location in question: http://www.universalhub.com/2014/somebodgy-took-some-high-level-interest...
roslindale dunks
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...
this comment made me giggle (hope your mom was okay!)
Could it be that
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.
Just so much NO to be found here today.
throwdown
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
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
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
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.)
I have yet to hear the reason
I have yet to hear the reason he was confronted. It seems like they could have picked a better time and place to arrest him if he had been under surveillance. For instance was he entering or leaving the store or just walking past ? Can anybody shed any light on it ?
Would you want
a machete wielding customer in CVS? Perhaps meeting you in the razor aisle? Want a close shave?
Old news but perhaps relevant
Secretive DEA program is using terrorism task forces to help local police make small-time drug busts
They declined to answe
Authorities were asked at the presser. They declined to answer.
If there is a better way to initiate the questioning of a person of interest who has been under surveillance by JTTF for the last X number of hours, they should do it.
Or, they could try to deescalate and disarm him when he pulls a knife instead of shooting him dead. But that's just me...
Suggestions?
What in your experience is the best way to deescalate and disarm a man rushing at you with a foot-long knife? Within 10' that's less than a second to react, but we'll give you all night to think of an answer.
training
Two police officers successfully disarmed a man with a knife in Wilmington in January. Their chief praised their restraint from using lethal force. I do, too.
In August of 2008, Holyoke police safely disarmed a knife-wielding woman.
Police are professionals. They get training in deescalation. They get trained in disarming a person with a knife.
They had this man under surveillance. They initiated the encounter with him.
Commissioner Davis said they did not expect his reaction which is weird because they also reported that they thought he was involved in a plot to injure and kill policemen.
Make no mistake, they kind of fucked up. Now they're just worried these guys don't have to take responsibility for it. The knife makes it self defense. No one's talking about being prepared when they engage the person of interest who was under surveillance by JTTF becuase they were considered a danger to police. The reason the techniques are valuable is becuase if they were used successfully, he'd be alive and under arrest tonight.
Dapper O'Neil is rolling in his grave
Makes ya God damn sick.
so you're saying there's a silver lining?
signed,
a yuppie gentrifier.
Glad that the terrorist was put down
Glad that the terrorist was put down before the Globe could urge leniency.
what a good little sheep you
what a good little sheep you all are believing the feds come on what are you new if the feds are involved then there's more to the story than meets the eye
"put down" is what we do to pets suffering from fatal illness
The fatal shooting of a person of interest, as a result of stopping them on the street to ask a question, is not what law enforcement had planned, I assume.
Even if they had probable cause for an arrest, their job is to execute the arrest without killing the suspect.
Even when a person is found guilty of a federal capitol crime we have a special sentencing phase. No, "put down" is definitely not part of our legal system if you care about such things. If you don't, you're un-american and you definitely don't belong in law enforcement.
I take it back.
OK, John, NOW the pool is closed.
(Insert joke about pool being closed because someone crapped into it here)
That was just a snickers bar!
That was just a snickers bar!
So glad you are off the force
Was he convicted of terrorism by a jury? No.
Was he sentenced to death by a court of law? No.
Police and FBI are not the same as judge, jury, etc. Rule of law applies to cops, too.
Move to Iran if you don't like it - they do things the way you like there!
Are you able to provide a
Are you able to provide a citation that he was/is a police officer of some sort? We can all assume by that users name that they are/were a cop just like we can assume a knife wielding mad man is guilty as sin.
Yes
This particular troll has a long and storied history here, and has identified himself as a (ex, thank god) law enforcement officer, yes.
Furthermore where either of
Furthermore where either of the bpd or feds uniformed? Just wondering.
The police were the judge and jury today, Swirly
God bless our Boston police and FBI. I'm told that their decisive actions this morning may have prevented yet another Islamic terror attack on US soil. #bluelivesmatter
They are never judge and jury
This is why we have a constitution and rule of law.
Our founders feared and loathed people like you, and put in protections against a police state. Shameful that you consider yourself an American with that ignorant attitude.
Police state?
All we know is the Police shot an armed man. That's far from a "police state".
Police state
In this case, yes, that's what we know.
But read what fishfuck said about "the police get to be judge and jury and executioner and God bless them blah blah".
THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A POLICE STATE
Which is why fishy should head to Iran asap.
I also have to wonder that IF the BPD and only the BPD was involved, would we have a live suspect in custody?
Is this your way of saying
Is this your way of saying you respect the BPD?
not a mystery
the police are not supposed to kill suspects. O-fish-L is praising the fact they did, not because their lives were in danger but because they killed a JTTF person of interest. why that's a problem in a hundred different ways is not a mystery.
Swirly, why the name calling?
Swirly, I've always considered UHub a place for thoughtful, polite discussion and while I disagree with most of your politics, I would never resort to profanity or name calling. Fishfuck? Really? The hatred and coarse language is very unbecoming for a young mother.
Go away
Anti-American lunatic.
Yes, really.
Gee, Fish, it's almost as though words have consequences, and when you aren't surrounded by a sea of likeminded simpletons preaching the same early paleolithic doctrine you've been repeating today, your insane and inflammatory remarks might prompt the ire of some of the readers here.
Nice job working a little sexism into the end of this faux-outrage, BTW. Full marks for the "Who, me?" routine.
Seriously, Swirly?
How many times does Adam have to warn you about your language before you are banned? I know for a fact you've been warned in the past. How old are you, 15?
All this time I thought you were a proper liberal girl. Just goes to show that nothing you say can be taken seriously.
Funny how some people want to sound intelligent, yet still stoop to name calling and profanity when they become flustered.
Why didn't they simply shoot
Why didn't they simply shoot the knife out of his hand, 1950s TV cowboy style?
The operative word is "may"
I think that you "may" be a lunatic who is dangerous to society so I guess you'd be okay with the cops shooting you dead with an amount of evidence equal to that you have provided so far demonstrating there is a terrorist plot which has just been foiled.
If that happens I will ask god to bless the BPD and FBI that their decisive actions have prevented yet another aquatic terror attack on US soil. #mammallivesmatter
their decisive actions this
You're a little long in the tooth to be believing in fairy tales, aren't you?
So stupid.
N/t
Meanwhile, from Stoughton and UMass Boston
UMass Boston alum and ISIS dude reportedly killed:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/herald_bulldog/2...
Xaverian Bros. High School:
Xaverian Bros. High School: A breeding ground for ISIS?
NOT a Machete
The police are now reporting that the man drew a "military style knife".
The Glob has pictures - looks kind of like a diving knife to me, but that's my context:
Machete, military style knife
Machete, military style knife, whatever the label you want to put on it: that knife would kill you.
Yes, that's certainly a scary knife in that photo
... and it might have been in the hands of the person the police shot.
BPD, I basically trust. That other outfit, the one that protected and enabled Whitey Bulger for so many years, not so much so. I'll wait for more facts before I form my opinion as to what happened.
Looks like your basic issue combat knife.
It's like the Ka -Bar that was a standard for Marines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka-Bar
And it's similar to one favored by Emwazi for his decapitation videos only his has a saw option along the back of the blade.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03213/jihadi_john_3213612b.jpg
Still, it's a few feet short of a machete which indicates further Globe reporting laziness. I noticed his brothers facebook page has a kind of flag image that has the shahada on it. It's a calligraphic statement of faith that also appears on various Jihadist flags.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/islamic-isis-flags-black-ban...
The shahada is an element of many innocuous flag images too. I wonder if that was a confusion that led to an investigation.
I also wonder if this has any relation to that trove of data captured during the raid in eastern Syria a few weeks ago that resulted in the death of the daesh (ISIL/ISIS) finance minister. Maybe there were records of foreign fighter prospects including some in North America?
The jihadists include many smart young men with aspirations and higher ed degrees who have fallen into a kind of lethal despair over the persistence of crooked autocratic regimes in the Middle East and they think takfiri purity espoused by daesh will somehow change things for the better.
Obviously this isn't true at all, but it is a useful explanation for jihadist motives.
Here's an example of a band in Beirut with an opposing outlook doing a song mocking the leader of daesh Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi.
https://youtu.be/UjaSGXmUjWI
It's sorta risky for them. They are kind of like Violent Femmes with ouds and a great female singer.
Well, in the BPD hand out
Well, in the BPD hand out pictures, you can see that it has "Spec Plus" stamped on the tang. A quick search reveals that to be a brand from Ontario knives, and looking at their products makes me think it is this one. (I'm having a slow day.)
That is a brand.
As opposed to a type. The type has been around for years and probably has any number of brands and versions.
"Under surveillance for terrorism"
Yeah, and so was my son when he was 10 and we nearly missed our flight because his name was on a watch list.
Doesn't exactly instill any faith in our "anti-terrorism" folks, generally.
Sigh
The lengths Swirl will go to make a story about herself...
Under investigation isn't a charge
Under investigation for terrorism isn't a charge, it's a description of what law enforcement is doing not what the person of interest did.
They weren't taking him into custody because they had probable cause, they were stopping him to ask questions. The point is, they didn't have probable cause and now he's dead becuase they killed him.
I hope he was involved in malicious violent criminal activity for which he would have been found guilty of a capitol crime under federal law, and sentenced to death. Then and only then is his death justified (Well, also self-defense but let's look at the underlying crime for justification.)
Point of Order
Police don't need probable cause to speak with someone any more than you need an official reason to talk to a stranger. Just like you, police can walk right up and talk to someone any time they like.
That person, of course, has every right not to speak with police. Unless police have reasonable suspicion based on specific facts to detain him, the person has as much right to walk away from them as he does from you or me.
The person does not have the right to pull a knife, gun, or other weapon and threaten someone's life just for talking to him, though. If he does, then he exposes himself to the use of self defense. Every state in the union recognizes the right to stay alive and extends that right to police and non-police alike.
You Nearly Missed a Flight.
So haven't most of us for some reason or another. Actually missed a a flight back to the states (with the body search and all) as I was profiled as a potential drug mole.
Blonde White American with a decidedly Black Name, BTW. Kind of Ironic.
Possibly more details at 3 p.m.
BPD, DA Dan Conley and the FBI will be holding a press conference then.
Made it to Huff Post:
Made it to Huff Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/02/boston-shooting-terror-surveill...
Low flying plane
I wonder if this is related to the earlier investigation:
Basis of brother's comments?
As much as I'm sure Ibrahim had a positive view of his now-deceased brother he doesn't explain how he knows that his brother was simply walking to the bus stop. Unless he was actually present at the shooting it seems to be grief claiming his brother's innocence not fact.
At least his brother has the narrative memorized
Claims the deceased last words were "I can't breathe!"
Of course, in that account there is no mention of where he got the Ka-Bar knife, why he felt he needed to wave it at the police and the Feds, and why they were surveilling him in the first place. Just those magic words.
In a case like this, until the evidence comes in, I'm trusting William Evans, BPD and Dorchester, over a facebook post. Or Zip Connolly's FBI, for that matter.
I don't know, if I got shot
I don't know, if I got shot twice in the chest, it would probably mess with my respiration, too. Maybe my last words would be, "I can't breathe!"
Update: Police say they have video proving their assertions
More details, although not about the terrorism investigation in particular.
What're the odds
So the holy man wrote that his brother was shot in the back. If the video shows him getting shot in the chest and stomach while facing the cops does that mean he's going to hell for lying?
Probably not
Probably not.
Lying simply means they
Lying simply means they subtract a virgin or two.
It's a grim evening.
Instead of doing actual work-work, am thinking of just buying a bottle of wine and watching "Rashomon" again for the umpteenth time.