NEW YORK
The knife-wielding man shot dead by police in Boston earlier this week had initially been plotting to behead self-declared Islamophobic blogger Pamela Geller, local media reported on Wednesday.
Instead, Usaamah Rahim decided to target police officers in the Massachussetts city, CNN said, citing law enforcement sources.
Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, attracted headlines last month when her organization arranged a contest in Garland, Texas, to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed where two attackers were shot dead by police.
"They targeted me for violating Sharia blasphemy laws,” Geller told CNN after learning of Rahim's plan. “They mean to kill everyone who doesn't do their bidding and abide by their law voluntarily.”
In April, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, designated as an "anti-Muslim hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, sponsored adverts on buses and trains in a number of major U.S. cities, including New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, that read "Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah".
Two hours before Tuesday's confrontation with police, Rahim, a 26-year-old security guard who U.S. officials say was radicalized by extremists, told an alleged associate that he decided to "go after" police because they were the “easiest target”, CNN said.
David Wright, 25, has been charged with conspiring with Rahim "to obstruct a federal investigation by destroying electronic evidence on Rahim’s smartphone," according to an affidavit filed in a Boston federal court.
He appeared in court on Wednesday and a further hearing is scheduled for June 19.
