Reports: Tsarnaev Friend Admitted Role in 2011 Murders

Ibragim Todashev fatally shot by FBI
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2013 4:24 PM CDT
Reports: Tsarnaev Friend Admitted Role in 2011 Murders
This May 4 police mug provided by the Orange County Corrections Department in Orlando, Fla., shows Ibragim Todashev.   (AP Photo/Orange County Corrections Department)

One intriguing detail has emerged regarding the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friend during FBI questioning. Various outlets including CNN, CBS, and NBC are reporting that while Ibragim Todashev appeared to have had nothing to do with the Boston Marathon bombing, he did admit to helping Tamerlan kill three men during a botched robbery in 2011. Todashev was about to sign a confession when he lunged with a knife at an FBI agent, sources tell NBC. The agent then shot him to death.

The triple homicide has gone unsolved for two years, but investigators gave it renewed scrutiny when it emerged after the bombing that Tamerlan knew one of the victims well. As the sources in the news stories tell it, the 27-year-old Todashev said he and Tamerlan went there to rob the trio during a drug deal and decided to kill them as well so they couldn't be identified. (More Ibragim Todashev stories.)

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