Parents Of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s Wife Speak Out: ‘We Never Really Knew Him’

The parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev‘s wife have said their “hearts are sickened” by the alleged involvement of Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was married to 24-year-old Katherine Russell, who The Daily Mail reports converted to Islam for her husband. The couple have a three-year-old daughter called Zahara.

Katherine’s parents, Judith and Warren, responded to news of Tamerlan’s death early on Friday morning with an emotional statement:

“Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child. We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriot’s Day horror, we know that we never really knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted.”

When asked by reporters how her daughter was coping, Mrs. Russell replied, “There’s nothing for me to say.”

26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead by police early on Friday morning, shortly after he and brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had hijacked a car at gunpoint.

The pair are accused of shooting dead Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, and have been named by the FBI as lead suspects in Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon. After a colossal manhunt, authorities have arrested Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Katherine Russell was spotted at 5pm today as she was driven back to her Rhode Island home by a relative, flanked by two SUVs being driven by agents from the Department of Homeland Security. As she shielded her face from photographers, the young mother was driven into a garage at the property.

A Homeland Security agent declined to comment to reporters, but acknowledged, “We are keeping an eye on the house.”