Boston Terror Suspect Planned to Behead Police Officer, Officials Say

By DAVE PHILIPPS and JESS BIDGOODJUNE 3, 2015 NYTimes.com

The man shot and killed by an F.B.I. agent and a Boston police officer Tuesday had been under surveillance by terrorism investigators because he was planning to behead a police officer, the authorities say.

The man, Usaama Rahim, 26, was approached by officers outside a CVS pharmacy in the city’s Roslindale neighborhood around 7 a.m. Officials said that after the officers identified themselves, Mr. Rahim confronted them with a large military-style knife and the two officers opened fire.

The shooting was an unexpected episode in the middle of a larger terrorism investigation into what officials have described as a credible threat with possible links to several people.

Officers Kill Suspect Who Wielded Knife in BostonJUNE 2, 2015

Late Tuesday, a resident of a Boston suburb who an acquaintance said was a cousin of Mr. Rahim’s was arrested as a part of a terrorism investigation, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The man, David Wright, was taken into custody in Everett and was to appear in federal court on Wednesday afternoon, said Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokesman for Carmen M. Ortiz, the United States attorney in Boston. The charges against him were not immediately announced.