Some civil rights and advocacy groups in Michigan sent a letter today to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation into the shooting death of Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a Muslim leader accused of buying and selling stolen goods. He died Oct. 28 after a shootout with FBI agents.
A spokesman for the Justice Department, Alejandro Miyar, said today in response: “We are aware of the incident. But we do not discuss whether or not we will be launching an investigation as a matter of department policy.”
Detroit FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold said today that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the letter was signed by him and members of six other groups, including the Michigan chapter of the ACLU, the Dearborn-based Congress of Arab-American Organizations and the National Lawyers Guild. The letter comes days before a scheduled visit to Detroit on Thursday by Attorney General Eric Holder, who plans to speak to law enforcement officials and minority groups.
“We just think when you have a situation like this, where a religious leader is killed by law enforcement, that is it a serious enough situation to warrant an investigation,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan branch of the ACLU.
Moss said she was concerned that “terrorism allegations are being made, but no terrorism charges are filed against anybody.”
Federal authorities say that Abdullah was an Islamic extremist who was allegedly involved in the buying and selling of stolen goods. Family members say those allegations are untrue and that Abdullah was a community leader who helped the poor.
FBI agents killed Abdullah during a raid in Dearborn after a two-year investigation.
Federal officials have said that Abdullah opened fire, killing a police dog, before agents returned fire.
Walid, of the Michigan branch of CAIR, said the letter asks questions about the use of dogs during the raid, whether Abdullah was armed, and where he was shot in his body.
Walid would not provide a copy of the letter today, saying it would be released Tuesday at a news conference in Southfield.
Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena has said that agents acted appropriately in the case.