Hospitalized bombing suspect says he and brother acted alone, motivated by religion

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The hospitalized Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction has told investigators that he and his brother were motivated by religion but were not in contact with overseas terrorists or groups, officials said.

Several officials familiar with the initial interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described his behavior during questioning as cooperative.

A senior government official said Tsarnaev has told investigators — by writing some answers down, and by nodding yes or shaking his head no to others — that he and his brother were not in touch with any overseas terrorists or groups.

Tsarnaev, who has injuries to his tongue preventing him from speaking properly, also indicated that he and his brother conceived the bombing attack on their own, and were motivated by religious fervor.

They got their instructions on how to make bombs from the Internet, he said, according to these officials.

Earlier on Monday, the White House said he will be tried in a civilian court.

"He will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

"Under U.S. law, United States citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. And it is important to remember that since 9/11 we have used the federal court system to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists."

Tsarnaev, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin, made his initial court appearance at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.

He was advised of his rights and charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S. and one count of malicious destruction of property with an explosive device.

He was assigned three federal public defenders. The charges could carry the death penalty.

The suspect agreed to "voluntary detention," but declined to answer questions about bail, according to a court record. A probable cause hearing was set for May 30.

"Today's charges bring a successful end to a tragic week for the city of Boston and for our country," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"We will hold those who are responsible for these heinous acts accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

A criminal complaint laid out some of the evidence against Tsarnaev, who was arrested Friday after a daylong manhunt, and his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a firefight with police.

A black jacket and white hat, matching the ones worn by "Suspect No. 2" in surveillance video, were found in the younger brother's dorm room, along with green strands of fuse like those used in the marathon explosives that killed three and wounded more than 170.

The video also captured the suspect making a cellphone call seconds before the first bomb exploded on the east end of Boylston St. during last Monday's race, and his utter calm in the face of spreading panic, the complaint said. The footage showed him hurrying away from his knapsack just 10 seconds before a blast erupted where he left it.

Tsarnaev was brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head, neck, leg and hand. He had been communicating with investigators in writing because he couldn't speak, federal officials told NBC News.

The FBI has not officially revealed a motive for the attack last Monday that killed three people -- one of whom, Krystle Campbell, was laid to rest in Medford on Monday. Investigators are still probing whether the brothers received assistance from others, officials said.

The feds have asked to speak with Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, who converted to Islam after she met her future husband at a nightclub. She dropped out of college, got married and had a baby three years ago.

The feds have asked to speak with Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, who converted to Islam after she met her future husband at a nightclub. She dropped out of college, got married and had a baby three years ago.

Her lawyer, Amato DeLuca, told The Associated Press he was trying to work out the details of an interview.

His client, he said, worked up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tamerlan watched their daughter. He said she didn't have any suspicions he might be plotting something.

He said she last saw her husband at home on Thursday morning, hours before he and his younger brother allegedly executed a campus police officer, pulled off the carjacking, and led police on a wild bomb-tossing chase that ended in a 200-bullet gun battle.

http://usnews.nbcnew...y-religion?lite

The carjacking victim told police his abductor asked if he'd heard of the marathon bombing and then said "I did that."

The man, who has asked that his identity not be revealed, told NBC News that he managed to escape and called his captors "brutal and cautious."

The victim told police the two men said they "would not kill him because he wasn't American," according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

Boston's top police official said Monday that while there are many unanswered questions, the city can rest easy.

"We're satisfied the two main actors, the people that were committing the damage out there, have been either captured or killed," Police Commissioner Ed Davis said on TODAY.

"There is still an open question as to exactly what happened in this investigation," he said. "We can't say with 100 percent certainty...anything, actually, at this point."

Among the mysteries Tsarnaev could solve is what his brother did when he traveled to Russia last year and who he met.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on "Meet the Press" that trip could be when Tamerlan "got that final radicalization to push him to commit acts of violence and where he may have received training."

FBI, Homeland Security and counterterrorism officials on Tuesday will provide a classified briefing to members of Congress on the Boston Marathon bombings.

Authorities are also trying to figure out where the suspects got their bomb-making supplies and guns. Cambridge Police said neither one had the necessary permits to carry firearms.

Immigration officials have arrested two of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friends on immigration violations, days after they were detained and questioned by police in New Bedford, Mass.

In another development on Monday, the FBI turned the street where the bombings occurred – Boylston Street -- back over to the city of Boston, which will begin a cleanup and decontamination process before it is reopened to the public. A specific date has not been set.

As part of a handover ceremony, the FBI presented Mayor Thomas Menino with an American flag that flew at half-staff over the Boston Marathon finish line.

[Darnell 8,479]

ah - some news ..

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

ah - some news ..

Old news. I posted this story yesterday, in another thread.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/426309-feds-charge-boston-suspect/page__view__findpost__p__6177396

Edited April 23, 2013 by The Patriot

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Old news. I posted this story yesterday, in another thread.

http://www.visajourn...ost__p__6177396

It's a separate story that merits its own thread.

[sandinista! 1,816]

Official: Suspect says Iraq, Afghanistan drove Boston bombings

(CNN) -- The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has cited the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as motivating factors behind last week's attack, a U.S. government official said Tuesday.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been able to communicate with investigators in a limited fashion from his hospital bed and told them that neither he nor his brother Tamerlan, now dead, had any contact with terrorist groups overseas. The official cautioned that the interviews were preliminary, however, and that Tsarnaev's account needs to be checked out.

The 19-year-old has told investigators the brothers were self-radicalized via the Internet. Investigators also are looking into whether the online English-language magazine Inspire, put out by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was used for instruction on how to make the bombs, but another source cautioned that other outlets could have provided that information.

The twin blasts just before the finish line of the April 15 race killed three people and wounded more than 260 and turned a chunk of downtown Boston into a crime scene, disrupting the normal routines of countless others.

Authorities slowly began allowing residents and business owners back into the area Tuesday. There was no word on when the street where the bombings occurred will be fully open to the public. That, the city says, will depend on how quickly building owners can make repairs and other issues.

Suspects called aunt to say 'I love you'

Business owner Ed Borash was among those who returned Tuesday. He said he and his son narrowly missed injury in the bombing.

"I've had a tough time," he said. "It's just one of those things. It's very emotional."

Helena Collins, a businesswoman in the area, said it was important to get up and running again, but not just for economic reasons.

"For us and our business, it's really about how do we get back to Boston, how do we band together, how do we help those that were seriously injured that are going to have lifelong struggles," she said.

As of Tuesday evening, 43 people injured in last week's attack remained hospitalized, one of whom is in critical condition, according to a CNN tally.

Meanwhile, two victims of the bombing were laid to rest.

Family members of 8-year-old Martin Richard held a private funeral Mass Tuesday, his parents said in a statement. A public memorial service is planned, they said.

"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," Denise and Bill Richard said in the statement. "We laid our son Martin to rest, and he is now at peace."

Family, friends and colleagues mourned slain Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier at a private memorial service in Stoneham, Massachusetts, CNN affiliate WHDH reported.

A memorial service open to law enforcement officers and the MIT community is scheduled for Wednesday on MIT's campus, the university said.

New details on officer's slaying

Collier was killed Thursday night, near the beginning of a wild 24 hours that culminated in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture in the backyard of a home in Watertown, a Boston suburb. Authorities suspect Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother of killing the officer, though Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been charged in Collier's death.

According to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, Collier didn't even have time to activate his emergency alert before being shot four or five times in the chest and head as he sat in his patrol car on the MIT campus.

It's not clear why the brothers allegedly ambushed the officer, the source said.

The source said investigators believe the Tsarnaevs then carjacked a black SUV, took the driver hostage and drove past the scene of the shooting before going to a gas station.

Carjacking victim tells his story

Investigators believe Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out the car jacking while his younger brother was nearby at the time, a U.S. official told CNN Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with CNN affiliate WMUR, a man identifying himself as the carjacking victim said he was worried for his life.

"They asked me where I'm from. I told them I'm Chinese," WMUR quoted the man as saying. "I was very scared. I asked them if they were going to hurt me. They said they won't hurt me. I was thinking, 'I think they will kill me later.' "

The man escaped when the brothers stopped to fill up the gas tank, running for his life as one of the brothers swore at him, WMUR reported.

Soon after, the brothers encountered police, setting off a furious gun battle in which authorities say they fired handguns and hurled explosives at pursuing officers before Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot. As the younger brother fled in the vehicle, he apparently ran over Tamerlan, authorities said.

Suspect shopped at fireworks store

More than two months before the marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought two reloadable mortar style fireworks a New Hampshire store.

On February 6, Tsarnaev had one question for a store assistant at Phantom Fireworks in Seabrook, New Hampshire: "What's the biggest and loudest thing you have?"

After that, store Vice President William Weimer said, Tsarnaev shelled out $200 cash for two "lock and load kits."

Weimer said such behavior is very common in the store. He said the store notified the FBI after discovering that the marathon bombing suspect had bought explosives there.

Law enforcement officials told CNN earlier Tuesday that the number of fireworks bought at the store was not enough to set off explosions the size of those at the Boston Marathon.

"My assumption is they bought this, experimented with it and decided against it and moved on and found another source," Weimer said.

Details emerge about boat, standoff

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pronounced dead early Friday. On Friday night, police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside a boat in a backyard.

Boat owner David Henneberry told CNN affiliate WCVB Tuesday that his obsession with how his boat was stored just right led him to discover the suspect as he stood on a ladder replacing two pads that had fallen out of the shrink wrap protecting his boat for the winter.

"I got three steps up the ladder and rolled the shrink wrap. I didn't expect to see anything, but I saw blood on the floor of the boat. A good amount of blood. ... And I looked back and forth a couple of times and my eyes went to the engine block and there was a body," he told the affiliate.

Henneberry said Tuesday that he doesn't even remember climbing down the ladder and running to the phone to dial 911, delivering the tip that would lead to Tsarnaev's capture.

"I didn't waste any time. I didn't ask him if he wanted a cup of coffee. I was off that ladder. That is all I remember," he told the affiliate.

Investigators swarmed the scene, forming a perimeter. Multiple shots rang out from behind the house, Boston Police Superintendent William Evans said Tuesday.

Authorities are still investigating whether Tsarnaev was armed and whether a shootout occurred at the boat, Evans told reporters.

"Clearly from everybody's vantage point, we could see whoever was in that boat was poking at that top," he said.

It wasn't clear at the time, he said, whether the suspect had a handgun or was trying to poke a hole in the boat's cover. After a standoff, hostage negotiators persuaded him to surrender, Evans said.

Investigation continues

The Tsarnaev family is from the Russian republic of Chechnya and fled the brutal wars there in the 1990s. The two brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan; Dzhokhar became a U.S. citizen in 2012. His brother was a legal U.S. resident.

Although Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become increasingly radical in the past three or four years, there was no evidence Tuesday of any accomplices or connections to extremists, a U.S. official said.

But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev conveyed to authorities that his brother believed Islam is under attack and its adherents must fight back, a U.S. government source said Monday.

Communicating with investigators by writing and nodding, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has indicated that his older brother masterminded the bombings, the source said.

The younger Tsarnaev has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death.

The U.S. official said Tuesday that investigators have determined that the pressure cookers used in the attacks were purchased at a Macy's department store.

Suspects' family members react

In a statement issued through their lawyers Tuesday, the suspects' sisters -- Ailina and Bella Tsarnaev -- said they were saddened "to see so many innocent people hurt after such a callous act."

"As a family, we are absolutely devastated by the sense of loss and sorrow this has caused," they said. "We don't have any answers but we look forward to a thorough investigation and hope to learn more."

And Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell, issued a statement through her attorney's office saying she is "doing everything she can to assist with the investigation" and said she and her family are shocked and distraught.

"The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all," the statement said.

Dead suspect's wife 'very distraught'

The suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, said Tuesday that she believed her sons had been framed.

Speaking from her home in Dagestan -- a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea -- Tsarnaev said she thinks her older son died because he was a Muslim and charged that authorities silenced her younger son to prevent him from defending himself.

She said family members have arranged for Tamerlan Tsarnaev to be buried at a mosque in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tuesday or Wednesday.

An official with the Islamic Society of Boston said it has not received any funeral requests from the family. A spokesman for the chief medical examiner's office also said officials there have heard nothing about plans by the slain suspect's family to claim his body.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/23/us/boston-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Karee 4,191]

I suspect his older brother had more influence on his decision to pull this off than anything else.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I suspect his older brother had more influence on his decision to pull this off than anything else.

Agreed.

[GandD 5,966]

The victim told police the two men said they "would not kill him because he wasn't American," according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

This part really makes me want to punch him in the face. Granted the rest does too.........

Authorities are also trying to figure out where the suspects got their bomb-making supplies and guns. Cambridge Police said neither one had the necessary permits to carry firearms.

We should make a law against carrying firearms without a permit. (Beating that dead horse)

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I suspect his older brother had more influence on his decision to pull this off than anything else.

Do you think being pissed off at his older brother was why he ran him over with the SUV he jacked to avoid arrest? I mean, there were three cops standing there he could have run over instead.

[Karee 4,191]

Do you think being pissed off at his older brother was why he ran him over with the SUV he jacked to avoid arrest? I mean, there were three cops standing there he could have run over instead.

I don't really know. Hard to say.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Do you think being pissed off at his older brother was why he ran him over with the SUV he jacked to avoid arrest? I mean, there were three cops standing there he could have run over instead.

I read that he left on foot and that a secret band of seal team six was really driving the car, and they ran over him on purpose.

[Karee 4,191]

I read that he left on foot and that a secret band of seal team six was really driving the car, and they ran over him on purpose.

You must be reading this Reddit thing that the others speak of.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

You must be reading this Reddit thing that the others speak of.

Actually I had seen much of that already. One of the more popular one's is that the guy in the wheelchair who got both legs blown off, is a decorated war hero double amputee who was posing as an actor.

You must be reading this Reddit thing that the others speak of.

Actually I had seen much of that already. One of the more popular one's is that the guy in the wheelchair who got both legs blown off, is a decorated war hero double amputee who was posing as an actor.