DC Trawler

#NotAllMuslims Plot To Behead Boston Cop

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As with all stories of this nature, please do not attempt to connect this incident with any other incidents, past or future. It exists in isolation, unconnected to anyone or anything else.*

Maria Cramer, Evan Allen, Laura Crimaldi, and Lisa Wangsness, Boston Globe:

The man fatally shot by antiterrorism officers in Boston on Tuesday and the suspect arrested Tuesday night in Everett had conspired to kill a police officer, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the case.

“We believe the intent was to behead a police officer,” one official said Wednesday morning…

Usaama Rahim, 26, was shot Tuesday in Boston’s Roslindale section by two Joint Terorism Task Force members — a Boston police officer and FBI agent —when he lunged at them with a menacing military knife, police said…

One woman who knew Usaama Rahim described him as a highly observant Muslim who married a young convert a couple of years ago.

Because Rahim was Muslim, this shooting was motivated by Islamophobia. Because he was black, it was motivated by racism. There are probably other reasons the police were wrong to shoot someone who was advancing on them with a big knife, but those are the main two.

*Well, unless you want to connect it to Ferguson. That’s fine. Actually, why don’t you do that? Thanks in advance.