Anti-Islam activist Geller possible beheading target

Controversial anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller was mentioned as a possible target for beheading by a man who was shot and killed by a counterterrorism task force this week, Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said Thursday.

“I think it was more along the lines of wishful thinking” rather than an imminent jihadist plot by Usaama Rahim, 26, who was shot in Boston on Tuesday after threatening police with a knife, Evans said in an appearance on the “Today” show.

However, Evans added of Rahim, who had been under 24-hour surveillance: “This was very real, it was very dangerous, and when it unfolded Tuesday morning, could have saved not only police officers’ lives, but who knows where it could have gone also.”

Authorities have not discussed in detail how Rahim came under scrutiny.

Conspiracy charges filed Wednesday against one of his associates, David Wright, 24, revealed that the pair had apparently been discussing beheadings and a possible attack on police officers, often in generic terms.

Officials have said the pair discussed a possible beheading in conversation with an unidentified third person, but a third person has not been arrested, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said Thursday.

Wright was arrested on Tuesday and made an initial court appearance Wednesday, and a judge reportedly ordered him to remain in custody.

Evans said Thursday in the televised interview that he is “confident that at least this threat has been neutralized.”

Wednesday evening, a spokeswomen for the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston declined to comment on alleged threats against Geller, who hosted a provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last month that was attacked by two jihadist gunmen apparently outraged by the event. Police shot and killed both men in a parking lot.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Geller declined to say whether investigators had contacted her beforehand about any threats. Asked about whether she would change anything she was already doing, Geller responded, “Doing it more.”

“This is what’s getting lost in post-Garland, Texas – that ISIS is here, Islamic terrorism is here, they targeted me for violating Shariah blasphemy laws,” Geller said in a phone interview. “This is really a showdown for American freedom. Will we stand against the savagery or will we bow to them and silence ourselves? That’s the question.”