DEARBORN — After the release this week of an autopsy report that stoked outrage over the FBI’s fatal shooting of a Detroit imam in October, the U.S. Justice Department confirmed that it is conducting its own investigation of the incident, according to a U.S. congressman.

Jamil Carswell, son of the late Imam Luqman Abdullah, speaks to media during a demonstration outside Dearborn Police Headquarters following the announcement of the release of his father’s autopsy report.                                   PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN

Imam Luqman Abdullah, who led a Detroit Muslim congregation of mostly African Americans, was shot 21 times, including once in the back and once in the scrotum, according to the autopsy report released by the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office on Monday.
FBI agents killed Abdullah in a Dearborn warehouse during raids on the facility and two Detroit homes, one of which was used as a mosque.

Detroit FBI officials said the raids were the culmination of a two-year investigation related to stolen goods.

Release of the autopsy report was delayed for weeks at the request of the Dearborn Police Department, which is conducting its own investigation.

The autopsy report states that the 53-year-old Abdullah was shot in the chest, abdomen, hip, thigh and groin area.

Several lacerations were also reported on his face and hands, raising questions over whether he was attacked by the FBI dog that officials said Abdullah shot at, prompting agents to open fire.

Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said during a Monday press conference announcing the release of the autopsy report that he expects to complete and release results of the department’s investigation in the coming weeks.

Haddad would not comment on details of the autopsy other than to say ” Multiple shots were fired by multiple personnel at that location in a very short period of time.”

He said Dearborn police were not involved in firing any shots at the scene.

A group of protesters demonstrated outside police headquarters during the press conference, chanting “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

“We’re going to get justice. I don’t know how, yet. But we’re going to get justice,” said Abdullah’s son Jamil Carswell. “Everyone who knew my father loved my father.”

When asked why he thought his father was killed, Carswell responded “Boredom. They were bored I guess.”

Director of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Ron Scott, protested with the group of about 20 people.

“The autopsy only validates the fact that what they did was wrong, salacious, viscous and was a setup,” Scott said.

He called for an investigation independent of law enforcement officials.

“The police can’t investigate the police,” Scott said.

He hopes to involve human rights organizations like Amnesty International.

“I don’t think it hurts to have as many eyes looking at this as possible,” he said later at a Tuesday press conference in Detroit.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, during the second press conference, said he received word from the Justice Department that its Civil Rights Division would conduct an investigation.

“This tragedy occurred on Oct. 28 and we’re still waiting for a report from the Dearborn Police,” Conyers said. “The problem is, though, that the police are involved in the multi-juristictional task-force with the State Police, the FBI, the Wayne County Sheriff, the Detroit Police… and so it might be more satisfactory to everyone concerned if the Justice Department itself conducted an investigation. On the surface, someone being shot 21 times raises quite a few questions in the criminal justice system. It also may involve the hate crimes law.”

The Council of American-Islamic Relations also this week filed Freedom of Information Act requests with several law enforcement agencies in pursuit of more information about the raids, including any potential video footage from the Dearborn warehouse and a necropsy report of the dog that was killed.

Abdullah’s widow Amina Abdullah, said she nearly fainted after hearing the results of the autopsy report.

“It was really, really painful for me,” she said. “I was shocked.”

Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit FBI, Andrew Arena, during a “Know Your Rights” event at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, commented on the case, though he was limited in what he could say because of the ongoing investigations.

“That case certainly ended tragically and I don’t think anyone in the community or FBI and law enforcement thinks that ended well,” he said. “We planned and knew it was a possibility but we hoped it wouldn’t end that way.

“As for the medical report, I don’t have a position on that. What I tell people is this — the facts all have to come out, you can’t come out with just pieces of them. I am responsible, I made the decisions and I take full responsibility for what occurred on that day… I think over the next couple of months lots of facts will come out about that case…

“The ten men facing federal prosecution have every right to a fair trial… And I have to be judged: I’ll be judged by you. I’ll be judged by the community… and quite frankly, God, someday. But I think we did what we had to do.”

Nick Meyer contributed to this report.