A civil rights group is expected to file state and federal lawsuits today on the one-year anniversary of the killing of a Detroit mosque leader who died during a shootout with the FBI.
The lawsuits, expected by noon, are being filed because the FBI and state Attorney General have failed to turn over audio and video surveillance footage showing the death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, who was killed Oct. 28 at a Dearborn warehouse, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan (CAIR).
Reviews by state Attorney General Mike Cox’s office and the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department found no laws were broken in Abdullah’s killing.
“We still need to review the information based upon the unanswered questions that we have regarding this case, as well as discrepancies that we have seen in the reports,” Walid said.
Abdullah was shot 20 times by FBI agents after he allegedly fired a weapon and killed an FBI dog. The barrage of gunfire and arrests of 10 Abdullah cohorts prompted complaints from civil rights groups and others.
Walid said there is no forensic evidence linking Abdullah to a firearm and no evidence proving he fired a weapon that day.
The gunfire occurred during an attempted arrest in connection with an indictment involving dealing in stolen goods and other alleged crimes.
Walid’s group also filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documents relating to the raid.