Private schoolboy turned wannabee Islamic State terrorist shouted Allahu Akbar before being shot dead on busy motorway

A private school graduate who police feared was an extremist Islamic State supporter has been linked to the double murder of an elderly couple.

Police fatally shot 22-year-old Raghe Abdi, when he lunged at them with a knife on the Logan Motorway in Brisbane at about 6am on Thursday.

Body camera footage is said to show him screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he went to attack the officers while on bail after being arrested by counter-terrorism officers.

Later that afternoon police found the bodies of a man, 87, and his wife, 86, at their home 3km away at Ulinga Crescent.

Concerned neighbours contacted police to conduct a welfare check on the otherwise quiet couple.

A neighbour told the Courier Mail they noticed their dog barking and reported hearing a bang at about 8pm on Wednesday night.

They were discovered with ‘significant injuries’ at their home at about 3pm.

Police are investigating whether the alleged terrorist sympathiser killed the pair after cutting off his GPS tracker, which was part of his bail conditions.

Abdi had graduated from Christian independent school John Paul College at Daisy Hill before counter-terrorism police began investigating him.

During his time at the school he was integral to the formation of the ‘Unity Council’ which emerged in response to discrimination in Australia based off overseas events.

Under the group’s umbrella he even visited federal parliament to call on politicians to embrace multiculturalism and urge the media to play a more positive role in spreading the message.

In May 2019 he Abdi was arrested at Brisbane airport after buying a one-way ticket to Somalia.

Counter-terrorism police feared he was travelling there to fight for Islamic State.

Despite being arrested on suspicion of an attempted foreign incursion but police did not have enough evidence to lay charges.

As he refused to hand over his phone password police kept him behind bars for 414 days for attempting to pervert the course of justice and failing to comply with an order.

He was on bail when police shot him dead on Thursday morning.

As part of his bail conditions he was required to wear a GPS tracker but police were on the hunt for him since Wednesday when he cut it off.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said officers attended the man’s address twice and searched bushland where the GPS device was pinging.

But they couldn’t find him or the device.

‘We were notified last night that there did appear to be some tampering with that tracking device,’ she said.

On Thursday morning he was seen walking among traffic on the Logan Motorway.

When police intervened he allegedly threatened them with a knife and a first year constable fired the fatal shot.

Police gave him first aid, but he died at the scene.

Mr Adbi’s lawyer and president of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, Terry O’Gorman disputes allegations he held extremist views.

He has slammed authorities for painting him in a negative light.

‘When he was going to Somalia to visit relatives, he was held for 18 hours and investigated as to whether he was going to Somalia as a foreign fighter,’ Mr O’Gorman told ABC News.

‘Mr Abdi was not a bad person — he was a young man who — on information known to me — suffered a significant adverse mental health event yesterday and last night.

‘His family have asked me to particularly get the message out that Raghe was not in anyway connected with terrorism — Raghe yesterday clearly suffered a serious mental health event,’ he said.

He is calling on police to stop the ‘deplorable practice’ of painting victims of police shootings in the worst possible light following the events.

Police have since played down any potential terror threat.

‘They wouldn’t have known who he was at that time. It was simply a welfare call for an unknown male walking along the Logan Motorway,’ Queensland police assistant commissioner Tracy Linford told the Guardian.

Source: Daily Mail