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Ibragim Todashev, friend of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, implicated himself and Tamerlan in a 2011 triple slaying just before he was killed by an FBI agent early Wednesday, NBC and CBS News are reporting.
Authorities were pressuring Chechan immigrant Ibragim Todashev, 27, to make a full confession to the murders when he suddenly turned violent, according to CBS. An FBI agent responded by firing his weapon and killing Ibragim Todashev.
The incident happened at Ibragim Todashev’s Orlando apartment, not far from Universal Studios. Initially, authorities claimed that Ibragim Todashev had lunged at the agent with a knife, but they later backtracked, saying it was no longer clear whether he was armed.
Law enforcement sources tell NBC that Ibragim Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out the 2011 killings when a drug deal that turned violent. The suspects didn’t want the three victims to be able to identify them, so they slit their throats, according to the network.
Authorities had gone to Ibragim Todashev’s home late Tuesday with evidence suggesting that Todashev, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and Tsarnaev’s younger brother, Dzhokhar, were involved in the 2011 killings.
No suspects had been arrested in that case, in which three men were found in an apartment in Waltham, Massachusetts on the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks with their throats cut and marijuana covering their bodies.
Massachusetts investigators had reported earlier this month that they were uncovering “mounting evidence” that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, were involved in the slaying. One of the victims, Brendan Mess, was a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s.
Authorities said they have no reason to believe that Ibragim Todashev had any involvement in the marathon bombings.
Friends and family members of the 2011 murder victims reacted to news of the alleged confession on social media.
On a Facebook page dedicated to victim Raphael Teken, someone wrote: “Whether we ever know exactly what happened, there is one thing we surely know and that is that Rafi deserved a much better fate.”
Ibragim Todashev implicated himself and Tamerlan Tsaranaev in a 2011 triple slaying just before he was killed by an FBI
“He was funny, kind, joyful and generous,” the message continued.
“All of us that knew him knew [his death] couldn’t have been about anything he did, but are now horrified by what it may have been about.”
Facebook user Tony Porter wrote: “I’m disappointed that we will never really get to experience true justice for our friend or know the reasons for what happened despite the fact that both alleged suspects are now deceased.
“I don’t know how you are supposed to feel when your friend’s killer gets killed, but I don’t feel <<relieved>> like I thought I would.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, confirmed to the New York Times on Wednesday that her older son knew Ibragim Todashev.
In a telephone interview from Dagestan, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said Ibragim Todashev moved from Boston to Florida about two years ago. She said she is devastated to learn that he has been killed.
“Now another boy has left this life,” she told the newspaper.
“Why are they killing these children without any trial or investigation?”
The FBI has been investigating Ibragim Todashev for the last month, questioning him several times regarding his ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by police in a shootout following the deadly April 15 marathon bombings. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, has been charged in connection with the bombings and is being held at a prison medical center outside Boston.
Khusen Taramov, a friend of Ibragim Todashev’s, confirmed that Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev knew each other. He said they had been in contact via phone or Skype about a week before the bombings.
In an interview with Orlando television station WESH, Khusen Taramov said that the two met while Ibragim Todashev was living in Boston because they were both involved in mixed martial arts and boxing.
Ibragim Todashev “wasn’t like real close friends [with Tamerlan Tsarnaev], but he just happened to know him”, Khusen Taramov said.
“But he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombings and everything, you know what I mean?”
Khusen Taramov says the FBI has been following him and Ibragim Todashev since the bombings. He said that they were both being interviewed by agents late Tuesday before Ibragim Todashev was killed.
Ibragim Todashev was arrested in an unrelated incident on May 4 for aggravated battery after he left a man unconscious in the parking lot of a shopping mall.
According to the arrest affidavit, Ibragim Todashev had gotten into an altercation with a man and his son over parking space.
Ibragim Todashev told police that the man “got into his face” so he pushed him and then the man’s son “got involved” and Todashev began fighting him.
“Todashev said he was only fighting to protect his knee because he had surgery in March,” the affidavit states.
A mall security officer arrived on scene to find the son unconscious and lying in a pool of blood on the ground just as Ibragim Todashev was pulling away in a white Mercedes.
The officer chased down the Mercedes, ordered Ibragim Todashev out at gunpoint and arrested him.
The son was later treated at a hospital with a split upper lip, several teeth knocked out and head injuries.
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Krystle Campbell has been identified as the second victim killed in the Boston Marathon terror attacks on Monday.
Krystle Campbell was a 29-year-old steakhouse manager who went to the race every year.
Doctors initially told her father, William Campbell Jr., that Krystle had survived the bombing and was undergoing surgery but had mistaken her for her friend.
William Campbell spent 12 hours believing his daughter had survived and only learned the truth after going into the post-operating room and saw his daughter’s friend instead.
“We had the doctors come out and tell us everything they did [on the survivor] – and it wasn’t our daughter,” William Campbell said.
Krystle Campbell went with her pal, Karen Rand, to cheer on Karen’s boyfriend.
They were struck by the first blast as they waited near the finish line.
Krystle Campbell has been identified as the second victim killed in the Boston Marathon terror attacks
William Campbell rushed to the hospital and felt relieved when doctors said they were operating on their daughter’s leg at Massachusetts General Hospital.
But when nurses brought them into a post-operating room around 2 a.m. he saw Karen Rand instead.
“I said, <<That’s not my daughter, that’s Karen! Where’s my daughter?>>. The doctors were as shocked as we were,” William Campbell said.
A Boston detective later showed them a photo of Krystle Campbell, who worked as a manager at Jimmy’s Steakhouse.
“I almost passed out on the floor,” William Campbell said as he was about to view his daughter’s body.
“She was the best person you’d ever meet. She helped everybody,” he said.
“I don’t care who you were, she was always there.”
Krystle Campbell was one of the three victims killed in the two blasts that came just seconds apart. The first victim identified was 8-year-old Martin Richard.
There were 176 people injured in the attack, and 17 people remain in critical condition. As many as 10 people suffered a lost limb, including two children.
“My daughter was the most lovable girl. She helped everybody, and I’m just so shocked right now. We’re just devastated,” William Campbell said.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand.”
Krystle Campbell went to watch the Boston Marathon every year, according to Boston.com.
She attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston and was a graduate of Medford High School.
Her grandmother, Lillian Campbell of Somerville, Massachusetts, said Krystle had just moved to the town a short time ago.
Krystle Campbell was living with her grandmother to care for her during an illness for the past couple of years.
Lillian Campbell said that her granddaughter “was just beautiful”.
“She was fun, outgoing person. She was always there to help somebody. All her friends loved her.
“The family is besides themselves now because something happened to her,” the grandmother said.
Before working at the steakhouse, Krystle Campbell was a manager at the Summer Shack.
“The Summer Shack family is devastated by the loss of our beloved Krystle Campbell. Please keep her & her family in your thoughts & prayers,” the popular restaurant tweeted this afternoon.
William Campbell had harsh words for whoever carried out the attack.
“I’m very angry. I hope they catch the bastard and fry him,” he said of whoever perpetrated the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.
“I can’t understand it – someone doing that. People are out there enjoying a beautiful day and then to have this happen.
“And then the little boy that passed,” he told The New York Daily News, referring to 8-year-old Martin Richard.
“It’s totally tragic.”
The mayor of Medford, Massachusetts., Krystle Campbell’s hometown, said he had attempted to console William Campbell.
“Mr. Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life,” Mayor Michael McGlynn said, according to Reuters.
“She had a great sense of humor and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots. She was someone who worked hard at everything she did,” Michael McGlynn said.
“Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved.”
A former colleague of Krystle Campbell’s, Steve Sullivan of Pembroke, MA, told BuzzFeed that Krystle was “a beautiful person” and “an angel”.
“Whenever I saw her she always had a smile on her face.”
9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of plotting the 2001 attacks are appearing before a US military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay to be formally charged.
An earlier attempt to try the four in a civilian US court was halted in 2009.
New rules for Guantanamo trials have been since introduced, including a ban on evidence obtained under torture.
However, defense lawyers still say the system lacks legitimacy, because of restricted access to their clients.
President Barack Obama tried to shut Guantanamo at the beginning of his term. But his efforts to hold Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial in New York foundered in the face of political and public opposition.
A small number of victims’ relatives are attending Saturday’s hearing at the military complex.
Self-proclaimed 9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is being tried with four others – Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi.
They are accused of planning and executing the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, which saw hijacked planes strike New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania and left a total of 2,976 people dead.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other four men are accused of planning and executing the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, which left a total of 2,976 people dead
At Saturday’s arraignment, they face charges including terrorism, hijacking, conspiracy, murder and destruction of property.
Waleed bin Attash appeared in court while restrained in his chair. His lawyer asked for the restraints to be removed.
But when asked if the suspect would “behave” if unrestrained, the lawyer said he could not give that assurance.
The five are expected to be asked to enter a plea for the first time. The charges can carry the death penalty.
Ahead of the hearing, Jim Harrington, the civilian lawyer for Ramzi Binalshibh, told Associated Press that although his client had previously said he was “proud” of his role in the attacks he had “no intention of pleading guilty”.
“I don’t think anyone is going to plead guilty,” he added.
The decision to hold a military rather than a civilian trial remains controversial and follows a lengthy legal wrangle over where the five men would face justice.
Another of the defendants’ lawyers, James Connell, predicted the trial would take years to complete.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is of Pakistani origin but was born in Kuwait, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred to the Guantanamo base in Cuba in 2006.
During an earlier, controversial attempt to try him before a military tribunal in 2008, he said he intended to plead guilty and would welcome martyrdom.
In 2009 the Obama administration tried to move their trial into US civilian courts, but reversed its decision in 2011 after widespread opposition.
The five were eventually charged in June 2011 with offences similar to those they were accused of by the Bush administration.
The Pentagon has previously said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted he was responsible “from A to Z” for the 9/11 attacks.
US prosecutors allege that he was involved with a host of other terrorist activities.
These include the 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and a failed 2001 attempt to blow up an airliner using a shoe bomb.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has alleged that he was repeatedly tortured during his detention in Cuba.
CIA documents confirm that he was subjected to simulated drowning, known as waterboarding, 183 times.
Five suspected al-Qaeda militants believed to have planned the 9/11 terror attacks have been formally sent to trial by the United States.
The five Guantanamo Bay inmates, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried by a military commission.
The suspects will face charges including terrorism, hijacking, conspiracy, murder and destruction of property.
They could face the death penalty if found guilty, the Pentagon confirmed.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four others – Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi – are expected to be tried together, the Pentagon added.
They are accused of planning and executing the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, which saw hijacked planes strike New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
A total of 2,976 people died in the attacks.
The five suspects are to hear their charges read out before a military court within 30 days, and are expected to be asked to enter a plea.
The decision to refer the charges to a military commission comes after a lengthy legal wrangle over where the five men would face justice.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and has been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2006
In 2009 the Obama administration tried to move their trial into US civilian courts, but reversed its decision in April 2011 after widespread opposition.
The five were eventually charged in June 2011 with offences similar to those they were accused of by the Bush administration.
President Barack Obama came into office in 2009 pledging to close Guantanamo Bay and try high-value terror suspects in US civilian courts.
But he was forced to abandon the closure plans as it became apparent that the issue of where to imprison and try al-Qaeda suspects had no easy resolution.
The Pentagon has previously said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted he was responsible “from A to Z” for the 9/11 attacks.
In a previous court hearing he has said that he intended to plead guilty and would welcome martyrdom.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and has been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2006.
US prosecutors allege that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was involved with a host of other terrorist activities.
These include the 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and a failed 2001 attempt to blow up an airliner using a shoe bomb.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has alleged that he was repeatedly tortured during his detention in Cuba. CIA documents confirm that he was subjected to simulated drowning, known as waterboarding, 183 times.
Also facing trial are: Waleed bin Attash, a Yemeni; Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni who allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, accused of helping nine of the hijackers travel to the US; and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi, accused of helping set up the hijackers with money, clothes and credit cards.
