Man shot by FBI had ties to Boston bomb suspect
Source: Agencies |
May 24, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
Ibragim Todashev's Chechen roots and mixed martial arts background mirror that of Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old Boston bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police days after the April 15 terrorist attack. The two also had lived in the Boston area.
Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot by authorities early Wednesday at his Orlando home during a meeting with the agent and two Massachusetts state troopers. The agent was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Law enforcement officials said Todashev had lunged at the FBI agent with a knife.
The FBI gave no details on why it was interested in Todashev except to say that he was being questioned as part of the Boston investigation.
However, two officials briefed on the investigation said he had implicated himself as having been involved in the 2011 triple-slaying in a Boston suburb that authorities believe may have been connected to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Public records show Todashev lived in nearby Watertown, Massachusetts, last year.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's younger brother Dzhokhar survived the shootout with police and is now charged with carrying out the attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 in Boston. He is also charged in the slaying of an MIT police officer.
Like Todashev, the Tsarnaev brothers have roots in the turbulent Russian regions of Dagestan and Chechnya, which have become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Investigators have said the brothers carried out the Boston bombing in retaliation for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Several of Todashev's former roommates who were questioned by the FBI said he knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an aspiring boxer, from mixed martial arts fighting in Boston and that the FBI was asking about him.
Todashev had lived on and off with other Chechens in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee and had moved to Orlando more recently, friends said.
Ibragim Todashev's Chechen roots and mixed martial arts background mirror that of Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old Boston bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police days after the April 15 terrorist attack. The two also had lived in the Boston area.
Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot by authorities early Wednesday at his Orlando home during a meeting with the agent and two Massachusetts state troopers. The agent was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Law enforcement officials said Todashev had lunged at the FBI agent with a knife.
The FBI gave no details on why it was interested in Todashev except to say that he was being questioned as part of the Boston investigation.
However, two officials briefed on the investigation said he had implicated himself as having been involved in the 2011 triple-slaying in a Boston suburb that authorities believe may have been connected to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Public records show Todashev lived in nearby Watertown, Massachusetts, last year.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's younger brother Dzhokhar survived the shootout with police and is now charged with carrying out the attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 in Boston. He is also charged in the slaying of an MIT police officer.
Like Todashev, the Tsarnaev brothers have roots in the turbulent Russian regions of Dagestan and Chechnya, which have become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Investigators have said the brothers carried out the Boston bombing in retaliation for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Several of Todashev's former roommates who were questioned by the FBI said he knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an aspiring boxer, from mixed martial arts fighting in Boston and that the FBI was asking about him.
Todashev had lived on and off with other Chechens in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee and had moved to Orlando more recently, friends said.
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