Oakland imam says Boston police shot brother three times in back

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The shooting death of a suspected terrorist in Boston is having a ripple effect in Oakland.

The dead man is the younger brother of an imam of the Lighthouse Mosque on Martin Luther King Way.

The Imam has lived in Oakland for less than a year and returned to Boston Tuesday to be with family members and find out why police and FBI agents allegedly fired against his brother.

He insists his brother was confronted by Boston police and shot three times in the back. The Imam posted several tweets asking his followers to pray for Usaama Rahim.

People who came to pray Tuesday afternoon were shocked to hear the Imam's brother had been shot and killed following a confrontation with an FBI agent and a Boston police officer.

"I'll speak for myself, but I'm sure it's fairly representative of the community at large that this is deeply troubling and we are all very, very hurt right now," Ali Samee said.

"It's just a shock to hear that. I just want to be there for him and see what happens," Abdi Samatar said.

The Imam of the Lighthouse Mosque was using social media to tell his version saying his 26-year-old brother had been shot three times in the back.

Ibrahim Rahim posted on Facebook saying: "He was on his cellphone with my dear father during the confrontation needing a witness. His last words to my father who heard the shots were 'I can't breathe."'

But Boston police disputed that Tuesday.

Usaama was supposedly under surveillance by the FBI and joint terrorism task force. Boston police say agents stopped him Tuesday morning in front of a drug store. They say that's when Rahim pulled out a military-style knife.

"He turned, the officers again gave several commands for him to drop the weapon and unfortunately he came at the officers and you know they do what they are trained to do. Unfortunately, they had to take a life and that's never an easy decision for any officer to do," Boston Police Department Commissioner Bill Evans said.

Police did not provide any details and only said the shooting was under investigation.

"I do believe that once his family meets they will make a statement for the press," one man said.