The latest on surveillance shooting: Urban League president says man wasn’t shot in back

By The Associated Press

A judge has ordered David Wright, 24, held in custody pending a June 19 detention hearing after prosecutor Stephanie Siegmann said he poses a serious risk of fleeing or trying to obstruct justice.

Wright was ordered held Wednesday on a charge of conspiracy with intent to obstruct the federal investigation of Usaama Rahim, who was shot to death by an anti-terror task force the day before.

Wright attorney, Jessica Hedges, said he has deep roots in the Boston area. “He has an incredibly loving and supportive family,”

She urged the government in investigating this and similar cases to be “as transparent as possible,” and “to abide by the law.”

“We have serious concerns about that already,” she said.

A woman from the Muslim Justice League, Shannon Erwin, said she supports what Hedges said, adding that Wright was initially denied access to his lawyer.

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3:15 p.m.

The FBI has released its complaint against David Wright, accusing him of conspiring with Usaama Rahim for a week “to engage in a violent attack.’

The agency said Wednesday that it has evidence supporting charges of obstruction and conspiracy against Wright.

The complaint says Wright and Rahim had purchased three fighting knives and a knife sharpener as part of their conspiracy, which allegedly began on May 26.

The FBI says that on Tuesday, a week later, Rahim allegedly called Wright saying he would go after “boys in blue,” randomly killing police officers in Massachusetts on June 2 or June 3.

Police say this imminent threat prompted them to confront Rahim on a sidewalk, where they said they shot him when he refused to drop a knife.

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1:10 p.m.

The president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts says a video shows a terror suspect killed in Boston was not shot in the back, as his brother had claimed.

Darnell Williams told reporters after viewing the police video Wednesday that 26-year-old Usaama Rahim “was not on a cellphone and was not shot in the back.”

Rahim’s brother, Ibrahim, had posted on Facebook that their father was on the phone with Rahim at the time of the shooting Tuesday and that Rahim was shot in the back three times.

Police had said Usaama Rahim had lunged at members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force with a knife when they approached him.

Williams says he can “150 per cent corroborate” the police account of how the officers engaged with Rahim.

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