Dzhokhar Tsarnaev chose to write a note confessing his connection to the Boston Marathon bombings explaining why he and his brother Tamerlan made the two pressure cooker bombs as he thought he was dying when he was hiding out in a boat.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, found a pen in the boat but no paper so it was revealed today that he wrote his message on an interior wall of David Henneberry’s boat that he used as shelter in Watertown.
Law enforcement sources told CBS that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote that he “does not mourn” the death of his older brother Tamerlan because he is a martyr living in “paradise” and that he expected to join him there soon.
The note is a critical piece of evidence for police as it reiterates what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said to them in the hospital after his arrest.
Aside from simply confirming his other statements, it could serve as back up for the eventual legal case against him because the reported confession to police came before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his Miranda rights informing him of his right to remain silent.
After they were read, the suspect reportedly stopped talking to police, but now the note will serve as a handwritten confession.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev found a pen in the boat but no paper and he wrote his message on an interior wall of David Henneberry’s boat that he used as shelter in Watertown
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote that the bombings were retribution for the various American crimes against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He equated the three people who were killed in the marathon bombings and the more than 250 others who were injured to “collateral damage” like the thousands of innocent Muslim victims of American wars across the globe.
“When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly wrote.
CBS reporter John Miller pointed out that the note is just the latest piece of evidence that police are using in developing their theory that the Chechen brothers worked alone and were self-radicalized rather than being the “soldiers” for a larger group.
Investigators are still working to determine who else- if anyone- knew about the attack before it happened.
While the note is undoubtedly a boost for the state’s case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is now being held in the medical center of an area prison, it is hardly cut and dry.
Because police fired hundreds of bullets at the boat during their attempt to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the note is riddled with bullet holes.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and the note will certainly be used in the case against him.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted his role in the Boston Marathon attacks to the FBI before he was told of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer.
It has been revealed that once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights, he immediately stopped talking.
The FBI normally tells suspects they have the right to remain silent before questioning them so all their statements can be used against them in court.
But two anonymous US officials said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been questioned by police for 16 hours before he was read his rights.
It is unclear as to whether this will matter in court as the FBI says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has already confessed to a witness.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted his role in the Boston Marathon attacks to the FBI before he was told of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer
A spokeswoman for US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said: “Before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old suspect told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently had recruited him to be part of the attack.”
The debate over whether suspected terrorists should be read their Miranda rights has become a sticking point.
Many Republicans believe they hinder intelligence gathering.
The Department of Justice has said investigators may wait until they have gathered intelligence about other threats before reading those rights in terrorism cases.
Investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris and are analyzing them, officials said.
One official described the detonator as “close-controlled”, meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is recovering in a hospital from injuries suffered during a getaway attempt last Friday.
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Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been read his Miranda Rights as he was charged with using weapons of mass destruction during an arraignment while he laid in his hospital bed.
During the proceedings at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, only uttered the word “no” when asked if he could afford a defense attorney.
The teenager was officially read his Miranda Rights at the time was he was arraigned on Monday by a magistrate judge, court officials said.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also asked several questions in which he nodded his head to respond.
The hearing began with a doctor being asked whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is alert.
“You can rouse him,” the doctor said, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by The New York Times.
Dzhokar Tsarnaev then nods his head when asked how he’s feeling.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Marianne B. Bowler said: “At this time, at the conclusion of the initial appearance, I find that the defendant is alert, mentally competent and lucid.
“He is aware of the nature of the proceedings.”
A probable cause hearing in the case was then set for May 30.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is specifically charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction – namely, an improvised explosive device or IED – against persons and property within the US resulting in death, and one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death, according to the criminal complaint.
If he is convicted, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the death penalty or life imprisonment. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000.
Regardless of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s sentence if found guilty, rocker Ted Nugent has weighed in on the case, arguing that his punishment be much more severe, and as America’s “Founding Fathers” intended.
In a column for World Net Daily entitled, “Time to Stretch Neck of Jihadist Punk”, Ted Nugent wrote: “Imagine if this jihadist punk had basically committed the same crimes 150 years ago. He would have been swinging from an oak tree in Boston Common no longer than 60 days from the date of his arrest. That would be justice.”
The charging documents reveal dramatic new details of the investigation and events following the bombings, including a list of items obtained from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s college dorm room and claims that during a carjacking at least one suspect was advertising his role in the marathon bombings.
“Although our investigation is ongoing, today’s charges bring a successful end to a tragic week for the city of Boston, and for our country,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will not be tried as an enemy combatant because he is a naturalized US citizen and under federal law, citizens cannot be tried in military commissions, the White House said Monday. Instead, he will be tried in the US justice system.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been read his Miranda Rights as he was charged with using weapons of mass destruction
CARJACKING
The charging papers allege that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked a man around midnight on Thursday and that older brother, Tamerlan, told the car’s owner that he had carried out the Boston Marathon bombings.
“The victim stated that while he was sitting in his car on a road in Cambridge, a man approached and tapped on his passenger-side window,” according to the charges.
“When the victim rolled down the window, the man reached in, opened the door, and entered the victim’s vehicle. The man pointed a firearm at the victim and stated, <<Did you hear about the Boston explosion?>> and <<I did that>>.”
The gunman, identified by the FBI as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, removed the magazine from his firearm to show the victim that it was loaded, then re-inserted it and said: “I am serious.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev then allegedly forced the victim to drive to a location where they picked up Dzhokhar.
One of the suspects then got behind the wheel of the car and demanded money and an ATM card from the victim. The suspects drove to a gas station and got out of the car to withdraw money, at which point the victim managed to escape.
FIREFIGHT
The stolen vehicle with the two suspects inside was located by authorities a short time later in Watertown, Massachusetts. As police cruisers descended on the scene, the men threw at least two small IEDs from the car windows, sparking a firefight.
During the exchange of fire Tamerlan Tsarnaev got out of the car and was shot several times. Meanwhile, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev managed to escape in the car – but not without first running over Tamerlan’s body.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and authorities launched a manhunt for Dzhokhar, who apparently abandoned the carjacked vehicle shortly after making his getaway.
CACHE OF EXPLOSIVES
From the scene of the shootout, the FBI recovered two unexploded IEDs, as well as the remnants of numerous exploded devices. Another in-tact device was found inside the abandoned vehicle.
A preliminary examination of the explosive devices that were used at the Boston Marathon revealed that they were low-grade explosives housed inside pressure cookers with metallic BBs and nails. Many of the BBs were contained within an adhesive material, authorities said.
Investigators discovered the exact same type of explosives at the scene of the firefight and inside the abandoned getaway car.
MANHUNT
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on the run for nearly a full day when authorities located him hiding in David Henneberry’s boat parked outside his home in Watertown.
The bomber engaged in a firefight with police from inside the boat before he was eventually coaxed out of the vessel, authorities said.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had visible injuries, including apparent gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs, and hand. He was searched and authorities found several means of identification in his pockets, including credit cards and a Dartmouth student ID.
“At the end they were just making demands of him: Show your hands, lift your shirt. And eventually that’s what he did,” Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau told ABC News.
“He was very slow and lethargic in every move that he made and they could see that there was no device on his chest. They kept creeping closer to him and then they felt it safe enough to pull him away from the boat.”
Authorities initially said they couldn’t question the terror suspect because of his severe throat wound.
Authorities conducted a search at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Dartmouth dorm, where they found a pyrotechnic as well as a white hat and black jacket like the ones he is pictured wearing in surveillance footage from the scene of the marathon bombings.
MARATHON BOMBINGS
The charging documents also contain new details about the marathon bombings and allege that at least one of the suspects was using a cell phone shortly before the explosions.
The documents state that at approximately 2:41 p.m. – about 8 minutes before the explosions – both bombing suspects were standing together about a half-block from the Forum Restaurant on Boylston Street near the finish line, according to footage from surveillance cameras.
About one minute later, one suspect – believed to be Tamerlan Tsarnaev – appears to break away from the crowd and begin walking east on Boylston street toward the finish line.
At 2:45 p.m. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – referred to in the charging documents as “Bomber Two” – walks in the same direction but stops short of the finish line, directly in front of Forum Restaurant.
“He appears to have the thumb of his right hand hooked under the strap of his knapsack and a cell phone in his left hand,” FBI special agent Daniel R. Genck wrote in the documents.
About 15 seconds later, “Bomber Two” appears to drop his knapsack to the ground.
The suspect stays in that position for about four minutes, occasionally looking at his cell phone and once appearing to snap a picture with it.
“At some point he appears to look at his phone, which is held at approximately waist level, and may be manipulating the phone,” the charging papers state. “Approximately 30 seconds before the first explosion, he lifts his phone to his ear as if he is speaking on his cell phone, and keeps it there for approximately 18 seconds.
“A few seconds after he finishes the call, the large crowd of people around him can be seen reacting to the first explosion.”
As others are reacting to the explosion, “Bomber Two” “calmly but rapidly” begins moving away from the finish line – without his backpack, which he had left on the ground.
About 10 seconds later, an explosion occurs in the location of the discarded knapsack.
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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is reportedly “clinging to life” under armed guard in the same hospital where 11 of Boston Marathon bombings victims are still being treated.
The secret service’s leading interrogators are waiting anxiously as doctors at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center fight to save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old who murdered three and maimed more than 180 in Monday’s terror attack and killed a police officer on Thursday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured last night in the culmination of a dramatic week-long police hunt and a completely unprecedented $333 million shutdown of Boston and its suburbs yesterday.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said today: “[I] hope he survives, because we have a million questions.”
Meanwhile, his father Anzor Tsarnaev called on him to tell “everything to the police” and to “be honest”.
The families of two of his victims Martin Richards, 8, and Krystal Campbell, 29, said they were glad no one else would be hurt and now they looked for justice.
A political row broke out this morning over how the terror suspect should be treated with the government sanctioning the immediate suspension of his Miranda rights.
Civil rights groups opposed the move while a group of Republicans said the government should suspend all legal rights and treat him as an “enemy combatant”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was said to be “clinging to life” after losing a lot of blood from injuries sustained in Thursday’s shoot-out with police which claimed the life of his brother and accomplice, Tamerlan, 26.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is “clinging to life” under armed guard in the same hospital where 11 of Boston Marathon bombings victims are still being treated
Investigations will also look at how Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who is emerging as the clear ringleader of the pair, was previously investigated and freed by the FBI over suspected terror links after being prompted to investigate him by Russia.
There are also questions around how the FBI dismissed posts Tamerlan Tsarnaev made on the internet about terrorism and whether they should have taken his younger brother’s anti-American, 9-11 denial posts more seriously.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being treated in a room yards from where 11 injured marathon victims are still in recovery while a specially drawn up High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group wait anxiously to question him.
Some victims families questioned the authorities decision to try and save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s life in the same building where these victims are adjusting to life without limbs and struggling to survive because of his actions.
The hospital was being heavily guarded on Saturday with scores of officers manning the main doors and going in and out of the Boston hospital.
The FBI barred the hospital from commenting on the medical condition of the suspect but they confirmed he was still alive.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds to his neck and foot from Thursday’s shoot-out which he escaped on foot before taking up his hiding place in a Watertown backyard boat.
The blood loss would have taken place over more than 20 hours by the time he was found and there were reports, which could not be confirmed, that he may have been shot a further two times last night.
“He had lost a lot of blood. He was so weak that we were able to just go in and scoop him up,” state police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald adding that the suspect was in “serious if not critical condition”.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was rushed from the scene by ambulance and images showed apparatus being used to help him breathe.
Authorities were just relieved to have taken him alive.
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