Slain man’s nephew appears in court, but few details emerge

David Wright, who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly conspiring with his uncle to kill police officers, urged the uncle to prepare a will, destroy his smartphone and wipe the memory of his laptop before acting on their plans, according to an affidavit filed by federal investigators Wednesday.

“Because, at the scene, CSI will be looking for that particular thing and so dump it, get rid of that,” Wright told Rahim, according to the affidavit. “At the time you are going to do it, before you reach your destination you get rid of it.”

On Wednesday, Wright, 25, towering over the courtroom at 6-foot-8 and 400 pounds, spoke loudly and clearly as he told US Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley he understood the charges that he and his uncle, Usaama Rahim, 26, plotted to behead a police officer.

Officials revealed few details about Wright, and outside the courthouse, his relatives declined to speak to a reporter.

Rahim was shot Tuesday in Boston’s Roslindale section by two Joint Terrorism Task Force members — a Boston police officer and FBI agent — when he lunged at them with a menacing military knife, police said.

Wright, who lived in Chelsea but appeared to have grown up in Everett and attended Everett High School, later attended Bunker Hill Community College from fall 2010 until spring 2011 with a general concentration major, said college spokeswoman Karen Morton. Morton declined to provide further details about Wright.

In 2009, Wright pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a hit-and-run in Chelsea two years earlier that left a couple injured.

John T. Leone was driving with his girlfriend, Joanne Stec, to her home on July 7, 2007, when Wright made a left turn onto Broadway near Webster Avenue. Wright’s vehicle struck the couple’s Nissan Pathfinder head on, Leone told the Globe by phone Wednesday.

Leone, now 67, suffered injuries to his back and Stec received injuries to her shoulder and finger.

Stec, 62, said she recognized Wright, who stared at her in shock after crashing his relative’s vehicle into Leone’s car. Stec said Wright had apparently taken the car for a ride while his family was out of town.

“He was a nice kid,” she said of Wright. “A big, humongous kid. He stood out.”

Stec said Wright used to practice the Qua’ran and he and her neighbor, a Catholic would have religious debates. She said the case was settled amicably and that Wright’s family apologized.

“They do that stuff. It was no biggie,” she said of the accident. “You wouldn’t think later on in his life something like this would go on.”

Wright was sentenced to a year of probation, court records show.

Wright’s license was suspended several times between 2007 and 2014 for speeding and other violations, records show.

Most recently, Wright worked at the Best Buy store in Dedham, where Rahim was training him to work in the loss-prevention department, said Ramon Alvarez, who worked with both men at the store. A Best Buy spokeswoman confirmed the duo had worked at the store but not for several months.

At Wright’s apartment complex on Linden Street in Everett, residents refused to comment, saying officials had asked them not to speak to the media.

But one neighbor who said he knew Wright described him as a friendly man.

“He seemed like a decent guy,” said the man, a retiree, who declined to give his name. “A great big guy ... mild mannered.”

Another neighbor who lived near the shabby three-story apartment building in Everett where Wright lived expressed shock at learning he was living so close to someone allegedly involved in a violent plot.

“It’s definitely nerve-wracking,” said one neighbor, who would only identify himself as Nelson. “To have a terrorist living right next to you, it’s crazy. Just four houses away.”