Document: Man accused of attacking officer asked to be shot

An Islamic State follower asked a Phoenix-area sheriff's sergeant during a violent encounter six weeks ago to shoot him after he threw rocks at the officer and walked toward him with a knife in hand, according to a court document authorities were forced to release Wednesday.

The probable-cause statement from the investigation of Ismail Hamed was released after The Associated Press and other news organizations protested an effort by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery's office to keep videos and other records from the Jan. 7 attack under seal. Body-camera video from the encounter and recordings from 911 calls that Hamed made before the attack were released last week.

Hamed, 18, is accused of striking the sergeant with rocks and wielding a knife in a parking lot of a sheriff's substation in suburban Fountain Hills, 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Phoenix.

Investigators say Hamed ignored warnings to drop the knife and instead continued walking toward the sergeant with the weapon in his hand. Eventually, the officer shot Hamed, who fell to the ground but ultimately survived gunshot wounds to his abdomen and right shoulder.

In the 911 recordings, Hamed professed allegiance to the Islamic State. He also told a 911 operator that he was armed with a knife and rocks and wanted to speak with a sheriff's deputy as part of a protest over people suffering in the Middle East.

The probable-cause statement explains comments made by Hamed on the video that were hard to discern because of the low volume of his comments.

"Shoot me," the court document quoted Hamed as saying.

The county sheriff's office said it was examining whether Hamed was intending to die by what is known as "suicide by cop" and whether Hamed had contacts with members of the Islamic State.

A woman at the office of Hamed's attorney, Faisal Ullah, said the law firm had no comment.

The probable-cause record said the officer feared for his life when Hamed wielded the knife, leading the officer to shoot Hamed to stop the threat.

Hamed has pleaded not guilty to the aggravated assault and terrorism charges.

The FBI has characterized the encounter between Hamed and the sergeant as a "lone wolf" attack.

Sheriff Paul Penzone had previously said he doesn't think there was an indication that Hamed planned to carry out other attacks.

Hamed remains jailed on a $500,000 bond.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.

While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.

At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.

He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.

In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.

The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.

FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)