Family Of Garland Lyft Driver Killer And Possible Terror Suspect Imran Ali Rasheed 'Blindsided' By What Happened
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The FBI's Dallas office is working to determine if a murder and other crimes committed by Imran Ali Rasheed were acts of terror, after Garland Police found a note Rasheed left in a Lyft driver's car indicating that may have been his motivation.
Rasheed, 32, is accused of murdering Isabella Lewis, 26, in Garland before opening fire inside the lobby of Plano Police Headquarters.
Police say a responding officer then shot Rasheed multiple times, and he later died at the hospital from his injuries.
Authorities say they don't have any evidence he'd been in contact with a specific terrorist group.
Rasheed was living with his family in Garland. Their attorney says they are fully cooperating with the investigation and were blindsided by what happened.
"It's just hard for them to deal with any of it," said attorney Edwin King. "None of it makes any sense to them. No indications, no red flags."
King said Rasheed suffered from multiple sclerosis and may have been depressed after he was recently laid off, but his family had no reason to believe he was capable of such violence.
"The family has a lot of questions," King said. "They would like to know more. They're just devastated by this, devastated for the family of Miss Lewis."
Rasheed had previously been the subject of a counterterrorism investigation eight years ago, but authorities determined he wasn't a threat at that time.
"At the end of the day, the scope of oversight is so significant that there's no way the FBI could have predicted this particular individual committing that type of a crime," said Dr. Alex Del Carmen, Associate Dean of the School of Criminology at Tarleton State University.
Rasheed doesn't appear to have any type of criminal record in Texas, and Plano Police Chief Ed Drain said they have no idea why he came to their headquarters to confront officers.
As of Tuesday afternoon, August 31, the station lobby was blocked off by crime scene tape and still closed.
Lewis' family says the young woman was a wonderful daughter, sister and friend who was taken too soon.
A GoFundMe memorial fund has been set up in her name.