Federal agents working on a counterterrorism task force in Detroit, Michigan reported that during a gun battle they shot and killed the Imam of a radical Islamic group. Agents say the gunfight began after Luqman Ameen Abdullah failed to surrender and face with various criminal charges.
Abdullah is the spiritual leader of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years, and known to be armed.
According to the report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, the FBI was in the midst of arresting Abdullah and 10 of his followers on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms.
According to a preliminary report obtained by NACOP, Abdullah was killed while exchanging gunfire with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Wednesday at a warehouse in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit.
Abdullah was the leader of part of an group of Islamists who call themselves Ummah ("the brotherhood"), a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States.
The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, a 1960s radical and Black Panther who is serving a life sentence for the murder of two police officers in Georgia.
As detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint that was unsealed today, Abdullah has espoused the use of violence against law enforcement, and has trained members of his group in use of firearms and martial arts in anticipation of some type of action against the government. Abdullah and other members of this group were known to carry firearms and other weapons.
According to the FBI Abdullah is also known as Christopher Thomas.
The FBI report states that Abdullah regularly preached anti-government rhetoric, and that some of his followers converted to Islam while in prison.
In 2000, in Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to (H. Rap Brown's) al-Amin's home to serve an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on a traffic citation of speeding and impersonating a police officer. al-Amin opened fire with a .223 rifle and English was hit four times. Kinchen was shot with the rifle and a 9mm handgun.
The following day, Kinchen died of his wounds in a Georgia hospital. English survived his wounds and identified al-Amin as the shooter from six photos he was shown while recovering in the hospital.
