Suffolk DA Releases Video of Usaamah Rahim Shooting

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has released surveillance footage of the terror task force standoff and shooting and death of Usaamah Rahim last week in Roslindale.

The footage released, shot from a nearby security camera, features both full frame and zoomed footage and shows the standoff between Rahim and the terrorism task force. Officials highlighted Rahim with a yellow oval in the video.

In a statement, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley stated that state responsibility for death investigations is with his office and the department had a number of policies in place to ensure there is transparency in all of those investigations. Conley has assigned Edmond Zabin, the chief of the DA’s Homicide Unit, to direct the investigation.

“All the exacting steps we take in a traditional homicide investigation are brought to bear when police in Boston and Suffolk County use lethal force,” he said. “Every scene is processed carefully and canvassed repeatedly. Every piece of evidence is documented and analyzed. Every witness is interviewed. Every interview is recorded. Every step investigators take is memorialized. If, at the end of an investigation, we or the family of the deceased believe more needs to be done, they’ll go out and do it.”

Conley said the department agreed to release the video before the investigation was complete in order to “help illuminate the facts” without compromising the investigation. He said the entire review, when complete, would be available to the press and the public.

Family members made claims about the shooting beforehand and later, met with the DA and Boston Police Department to view the footage. Later, David Wright of Everett, was arrested as a co-conspirator with Rahim. During the course of the terror investigation, it was revealed that they may have been targeting a controversial anti-Islamic activist.

Conley’s full speech text can be found here along with two downloadable .mov files of the security footage featuring both original and zoomed video enhancement.