dagblog - Comments for "FBI investigates links between Tsarnaev brothers and man shot in Florida"

What the New York Times

artappraiser — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:12:36 +0000

In reply to Ibragim Todashev implicated

What the New York Times (Michael S. Schmidt, William K. Rashbaum & Richard A. Oppel Jr.) has on what happened:

[....] The man, Ibragim Todashev, had been speaking for two hours in his apartment to officials from the Massachusetts State Police and the F.B.I. about Mr. Tsarnaev and the Sept. 11, 2011, murders in Waltham, Mass., when he suddenly grabbed an object and tried to attack the agent, one official said.

“He exploded and leapt at him,” said the official, who said the F.B.I. agent sustained minor injuries that required stitches.

A second law enforcement official said the shooting occurred after Mr. Todashev had admitted his role in the killings and had also implicated Mr. Tsarnaev. The official said he had begun writing out a statement when he asked to take a break.

“They got him to confess to the homicides, and they say, ‘Let’s write it down,’ and he starts writing it down. He goes to get a cigarette or something and then he goes off the deep end,” the second official said. “I don’t know what triggered him, and he goes after the agent.”

The official said Mr. Todashev had something in his hand, “a knife or a pipe or something.”

It was not certain who, or how many officers, had fired on Mr. Todashev. Nor was it clear why, with at least three law enforcement officials in the room, deadly force was used on someone without a firearm in his hands. Asked, one law enforcement official said: “If somebody jumps on you and you have a gun, and you don’t do something, the gun will quickly come into play.”

Mr. Todashev’s alleged oral admission and his subsequent death marked a bizarre twist in investigators’ attempts to determine whether Mr. Tsarnaev participated in the gruesome killings in Waltham on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The throats of his close friend, Brendan Mess, and two other men were slashed and marijuana was spread over their bodies.

The second official described what in effect appears to be a drug robbery.

“So Tamerlan says they have dope, they rip them off. Tamerlan says, ‘They can identify me, so let’s kill them.’ And they kill them,” the official said. [....]

Richard, it's not just you.

artappraiser — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:51:03 +0000

In reply to This is a very strange story;

Richard, it's not just you. The stranger a story is, the more news coverage....enquiring minds and all...we are all complicit in wanting to stare at strangeness, it's human nature.

Nod, nod. Not to minimize the

artappraiser — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:21:45 +0000

In reply to Maybe I've just seen too much

Nod, nod. Not to minimize the loss of life, but not good for law enforcement either, as a dead suspect is always fodder for conspiracy theories. And one could say much more so with all the players involved here, where conspiracy is more like the conventional wisdom. Here, contrary to the old canard, dead men make for lots of tales.

Maybe I've just seen too much

Verified Atheist — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:54:09 +0000

In reply to Ibragim Todashev implicated

Maybe I've just seen too much TV, but it seems to me they could've stopped him with non-lethal means, e.g., a taser or even a non-fatal shot.

This is a very strange story;

Richard Day — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:27:22 +0000

In reply to Ibragim Todashev implicated

This is a very strange story; to me anyway.

I suppose we will not really receive the full story for months or even years because the Feds are in the middle of their investigation and because this all has to do with 'National Security'.

Ibragim Todashev implicated

artappraiser — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:25:01 +0000

In reply to FBI investigates links between Tsarnaev brothers and man shot in Florida

Ibragim Todashev implicated Tsarnaev, himself in triple homicide before FBI shooting
CBS News, May 22,2013, Updated at 7:43 p.m. ET

A friend of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev implicated himself and Tsarnaev in an unsolved triple homicide before authorities say he instigated a violent confrontation that resulted in his death early Wednesday morning, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported.

The shooting happened inside an Orlando apartment complex as an FBI agent and Massachusetts State Police detectives were questioning Ibragim Todashev about his friendship with Tsarnaev.

Law enforcement sources said the two Chechen immigrants once trained together at a Boston area gym. But evidence also suggests a criminal connection, involvement in a grisly triple murder that occurred in September 2011, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Three men, including one who trained at the same gym, were found with their throats cut, their bodies had been covered with marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash. No one has been charged.

But sources say during questioning Tuesday night, Todashev implicated himself and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the killings. As investigators pushed at him towards a confession, he snapped, reported Orr.

Law enforcement officials say the 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter made a move that threatened the investigators. The FBI agent, who suffered cuts in the altercation, shot and killed Todashev [....]