Pamela Geller Calls Allegedly Being Targeted for Beheading by Terror Suspect 'Chilling'
Suspect initially planned find Pamela Geller, behead her, sources tell ABC News.
— -- Days after police shot and killed an apparent lone-wolf terror suspect in Boston, new details about the suspect, Usaama Rahim, and an alleged plot to attack conservative activist and Muhammad cartoon contest sponsor Pamela Geller are emerging.
On Wednesday, ABC News learned from sources that Rahim, 26, had initially planned to travel to New York, find Geller, and behead her. Rahim changed course before his death, instead electing to “go after the boys in blue,” according to the FBI.
“It’s chilling. It is chilling,” Geller told ABC News’ Tom Llamas in a phone interview Wednesday night. “When you consider that they want to cut my head off and leave it on my chest the way they did Foley and the other aid workers in the Middle East because of a cartoon, this is the state of freedom in this country.”
Despite her “army of security,” Geller denied ABC News’ request to speak on camera, saying she feared for her safety.
“I have a very false sense of security,” she said. “It is a very serious threat.”
But Rahim’s threat has revitalized her convictions, she said.
“It’s given me greater resolve,” she added. “This is the First Amendment. This is elemental. This is Americanism.”
Rahim's family declined comment to ABC News, but local Muslim leaders who knew him said he was not radical and they were surprised to hear the allegations against him.