Sister of suspected Islamic State terrorist shot dead while trying to stab police officer in Florida

The sister of a man accused of planning a mass shooting for ISIS was shot dead moments after lunging at a Florida cop with a huge butcher knife, according to dramatic video released by police.

Footage shows the unidentified officer calmly walking up to Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, 21, on a bench outside Temple Terrace police HQ Friday after she lured him out by asking for help, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

She appeared to reach into a bag — with the officer suddenly lurching back as she tried to stab him in his body, the footage shows.

As the officer sprang back and then ran to his right, Al-Azhari chases after him, repeatedly swiping the blade in his direction.

Another officer could then be seen racing through a parking lot, drawing his weapon as the pair were now off-camera.

“Had no alternative but to shoot,” Temple Terrace police Chief Kenneth Albano said at a news conference, revealing that both the attacked officer and at least one colleague opened fire.

“It’s a very traumatic thing for an officer to pull his weapon, and much less take a life.”

While the surveillance footage had no sound, Albano said he heard the officer repeatedly shouting “drop the knife” before the suspect was shot.

Al-Azhari was taken to a local hospital, where she died, the chief said. The officer was left with non-life-threatening wounds.

Numerous reports identified her as the sister of Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari — who just five days earlier had been busted for buying weapons ready to launch an ISIS attack, according to the Justice Department.

He praised Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen — and bragged of his desires to carry out a similar mass shooting, prosecutors said.

He scouted potential targets in the Tampa area — and even “rehearsed portions of a future attack and statements that he would make,” according to the criminal complaint.

He served three years in prison in Saudi Arabia for attempting to join the Islamic State in Syria with his father and two others, according to the criminal complaint, returning to the US in 2018.

FBI agents finally arrested him on May 24 after he bought a Glock and a silencer — while trying to buy an AK-style weapon or an Uzi, the complaint charges.

He is now being held in the Pinellas County jail at the request of federal agents, the Tampa Bay Times said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the officer-involved shooting of the sister.

“We want it to be clear that this was unprovoked,” Albano said, according to the Florida paper.

Source: New York Post