FBI: Tamerlan Tsarnaev associate Ibragim Todashev ‘lost control easily’
When FBI and Massachusetts State Police officers entered the Florida apartment of Ibragim Todashev on May 21, 2013, they arrived to a dimly lit room and a “calm and respectful’’ Todashev.
By the end of the night, the friend of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been shot seven times, a coffee table lay flipped upside-down, and shell casings were splayed across the room.
That stark change of events fits with what an acquaintance of Todashev told FBI the day after the shooting; Todashev was “a person who lost control easily.’’
The details of that night, at least from authorities’ point of view, had been partially filled in by an report from the Florida State Attorney’s office last year. More images, interviews with Todashev’s acquaintances, and details from the FBI were released on Sunday thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Muckrock, the investigative news site.
The files show evidence logs and images from the fatal encounter with Todashev, a boxer living in Massachusetts until he moved to Florida. According to the FBI, Todashev had admitted being involved in a still-unsolved 2011 triple murder in Waltham, Massachusetts.
He had begun writing a confession to his involvement in that crime when he launched a coffee table at an FBI agent’s head, ran to grab a broomstick handle, assumed an “attacking posture,’’ and charged the officers present, according to law enforcement testimony. The FBI agent present, later identified as Aaron McFarlane, shot Todashev seven times, killing him.
McFarlane’s head injury from the coffee table needed nine stitches. The newly released files include photos of the bloodied shirt McFarlane wore on that day.
The below photo shows the state of Todashev’s room after the fight, with the overturned coffee table in the left corner.
Other photos show shell casings from the FBI agents weapon strewn across the apartment next to a pen, candies, and on the carpet.
The FBI report also quotes two acquaintances of Todashev who affirmed he was not an extremist. One told the FBI that Todashev “did not want to be involved with anything that would get him into trouble; he did not drink alcohol and did not want anything to do with terrorism.’’ Another said Todashev “never spoke about politics or religion’’ and that the acquaintance “never heard Todashev make any comments that might reflect extremist views.’’
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