The younger suspect partied in the days after the Boston Marathon bombing, resuming his normal college life at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth as if nothing had happened.
Police believe that 19-year-old Dzhohkar Tsarnaev returned to campus after the attack and remained there until Thursday, when he had been identified by the FBI. He interacted with other students and his teammates from the intramural soccer team. The younger suspect even partied, friend said.
“He was just relaxed,” one friend told The Boston Globe .
While Dzhokhar was resuming his normal college life, one hour away in Boston the city was reeling from the bombing and investigators racing to find his identity.
It began on Monday, when police say Dzhokhar and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan left homemade bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The blasts left three people dead and more than 170 injured as shrapnel tore through the crowd, tearing off limbs and shattering glass.
Dzhokhar is described by his friends at UMass-Dartmouth as a normal student who listened to hip-hop, played soccer video games, and used to smoke marijuana daily. Even after the FBI released his photo, classmates didn’t believe it could have been him.
“We made a joke like, that could be Dzhokar,” said Pamala Rolon. “But then we thought it just couldn’t be him. Dzhokar? Never.”
But not long after the younger suspect partied, his cover was blown. Once the FBI determined his identity from a number of tipsters — including the boy’s own aunt — the school went into lockdown and sent a warning to students.
On the school’s website, this message was posted: “UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth. The campus is closed. Individuals on campus should shelter in place unless instructed otherwise.”
When students learned that it was their friend “ Jahar ” who was wanted in the bombings, they were shocked.
“I can’t believe he had the balls to come back and act like nothing happened,” said Andrew Glasby, who lived above Tsarnaev in the Pine Dale dormitory.
Glasby said there was nothing unusual about Tsarnaev when he returned to campus, especially when the younger suspect partied and interacted with friends in the dorms as if nothing was amiss.