While authorities continue their massive manhunt for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week, new details have emerged about the suspects.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 are being named as the main suspects in the bombings. The brothers are alleged to have murdered an MIT police officer late Thursday night before hijacking an SUV and engaging in a firefight with police. Tamerlan was killed during the shootout, but Dzhokhar managed to escape and is still on the run.
The Guardian has reported that the Tsarnaevs originate from Chechnya, but may have lived in Kazakhstan before moving to the U.S. ABC News today reported that the father of the men believes the pair were not involved in the Boston Marathon bombings, and stated that his sons do not have military training:
Dzhokhar was reportedly a star wrestling athlete at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. In 2011 he was awarded a $2,500 Cambridge City Scholarship. He later attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Accounts from people who knew Dzhokhar in middle and high school describe him as nice and outgoing.
A Twitter account being attributed to Dzhokhar has surfaced, with tweets that were sent as late as April 17 – two days after the marathon bombings. The last tweet sent from the account (other than a retweet) gives no indication that Dzhokhar was connected with the bombings:
I’m a stress free kind of guy
Details on Tamerlan are sparse, though he was reportedly a competitive boxer who supported Chechen independence from Russia. The ABC report also stated that he was the father of a 3-year-old girl. A YouTube account attributed to Tamerlan contains playlists referencing Islam and terrorism, including the video below, in which Australian Shiek Feiz Mohammad rails against the “Pagan” content of the Harry Potter novels: