Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spoke with his mom this week, according to reports. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva told reporters that her son is recuperating and sounds “normal.”
Tsarnaeva, speaking from Makhachkala, the capital of Russia’s Dagestan region, added, “I couldn’t stop myself from crying.” Dzhokhar, 19, and his older brother, Tamerlan, 26, are suspected of planting and detonating two bombs during April 15th’s Boston Marathon.
The twin pressure cooker bombs killed three people and injured more than 260 others. Several dozen amputations took place, both in the blasts and afterward at several area hospitals.
Tamerlan was killed in a firefight with police in the early hours of the 19th. Dzhokhar was captured alive but injured later that day after a city-wide manhunt that locked down Boston and most of its suburbs.
Tsarnaeva added of speaking with her son, “He said: ‘I am absolutely fine, my wounds are healing. Everything is in God’s hands. Be patient. Everything will be fine.” The 19-year-old suspect is currently being held at an all-male federal prison hospital in Ayer, Massachusetts.
Dzhokhar is recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck. He was charged in April with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property. Both counts have the potential to result in the death penalty for the teenage immigrant from Russia. One of his lawyers, Judy Clarke, has specialized in death penalty cases before.
Tsarnaeva explained that the conversation with her son, Dzhokhar, lasted just six minutes , though she was promised another call each month to speak with him. She added:
“Mentally he is normal but the child is shocked. It was really hard to hear him and for him to hear me. The conversation was very quiet. It was my child, I know he is locked up like a dog, like an animal.”
It is likely that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers will blame his involvement in the Boston Marathon bombings on the “overpowering influence” of older brother Tamerlan, who has been described in recent weeks as a radical Muslim who found fault with the United States despite his desire to fit in.