Triple Homicide: Boston Bomber’s Brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev Was Involved
A triple homicide which took place back in 2011 in a Boston suburb, has now been linked to the Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The older Tsarnaev was killed fleeing law enforcement officers a few days after the deadly Boston marathon bombing in April. The triple homicide also appears to have been deliberately timed as it occurred on September 11, 2011.
The court documents show that Ibragim Todashev, a friend of the Tsarnaevs, told FBI agents during questioning that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been involved in the triple killings. Todashev allegedly became violent during questioning, and was ultimately killed by Massachusetts state troopers.
The three men killed in the triple homicide were Brendan Mess, Erik Weissman and Raphael Taken, who were found in an apartment with their necks slit and covered in marijuana.
The prosecution wrote in the filing:
“Any benefit to [Dzhokhar] Tsarnaev of knowing more about the precise ‘nature and extent’ of his brother’s involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding.”
The court filing was done in order to block attempts by Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s lawyers from getting certain sensitive information from authorities regarding the triple murders.
His defense team are trying to make the government share extensive materials relating to the 2011 killings. They say that the older brother’s role in those murders might be a mitigating factor in the case against the Boston bomber himself.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is up on numerous charges, including the most serious, using a weapon of mass destruction, as well as 16 other charges.
When Tamerlan Tsarnaev was pictured by photographer Johannes Hirn during a boxing training session, he said: “I don’t have a single American friend. I don’t understand them.”
