Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been charged by police
Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev texted ‘lol,’ ‘you better not text me’ and other messages to one of the three friends who were arrested on Wednesday for interfering with the investigation of the attack, according to the police complaint against them.
The newly arrested suspects were identified in complaints as Dias Kadyrbayev, Azamat Tazhayakov and Robel Phillipos.u00a0Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are being charged with throwing away Tsarnaev’s laptop and his backpack, which contained fireworks, and with obstructing a police investigation.
ADVERTISEMENT
Chilling: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the prime suspect who is currently on the run, told his friend laughingly not to text him three days after the attack. Pic/AFP
Phillipos is being charged with making false statements to federal investigators. Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov studied alongside Tsarnaev at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and told investigators they were friends with the bombing suspect.
Hailing from Kazakhstan, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are in the United States on student visas and have been held in jail for more than a week on immigration violations.
According to the complaint, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov first saw Tsarnaev in person after the attack two days after the bombings.
When the Federal Bureau of Investigation released images of Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev a day later, Kadyrbayev told Tsarnaev via text message that he looked like one of the suspects.
Tsarnaev replied ‘LOL’ and warned Kadyrbayev not to text him. Kadyrbayev told investigators that he saw Tsarnaev again the third night after the bombing.
After Kadyrbayev spotted fireworks in Tsarnaev’s bag, he concluded Tsarnaev was involved in the bombing. Kadyrbayev then decided to dispose of Tsarnaev’s backpack and laptop in a dumpster near his apartment to ‘help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble,’ as per the police report.
Meanwhile, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body has still not been claimed, a spokesman for the state’s chief medical examiner said. His widow said she wanted the medical examiner to release her husband’s body to his family. u00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
