WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The man who was fatally shot by authorities in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday had originally planned to behead the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) Pamela Geller, US media outlets reported.
“Usaamah Rahim, who was fatally shot after waving a military knife at law enforcement officers in Boston, was originally plotting to behead Pamela Geller, an activist and conservative blogger,” law enforcement sources told CNN on Wednesday.
Rahim had already been suspected and followed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Two men attacked the center hosting the event in protest and were killed by police.
"They targeted me for violating Sharia blasphemy laws,” Geller said on Wednesday. “They mean to kill everyone who doesn't do their bidding and abide by their law voluntarily."
Geller also said she has had an “army of security” since the thwarted Garland attack.
"This is a showdown for American freedom,” she noted. “Will we stand against this savagery or bow down to them and silence ourselves?”
According to the US Department of Justice complaint against Rahim, beheading is “a tactic of some foreign terrorist organizations which use such killings in propaganda videos.”
Law enforcement intercepted a call in which Rahim said that he would no longer follow through with the beheading, but “go after boys in blue,” referring to police.
Geller describes herself as a human rights activist and the leader of awareness campaigns through the United States and Europe, according to her website.
