Man identified as Ibragim Todashev, who reportedly knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev as both were mixed martial-arts fighters
Steve Anderson, Agencies
An FBI agent has shot and killed a man believed to have been friends with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
According to NBC news, the man was being questioned by the agent in Florida when he attacked the agent, who then fired at him.
The Orlando Sentinel said a friend had identified the dead man as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev of Orlando. The newspaper quoted the friend, Khusn Taramiv, as saying Todashev was being investigated as part of the Boston bombings and knew bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev because both were mixed martial-arts fighters.
FBI spokesman Dave Couvertier said he could not confirm the dead man’s identity nor the potential link to the Boston bombings.
“We are currently responding to a shooting incident involving an FBI special agent,” he told the Reuters new agency by email. “The incident occurred in Orlando, Florida. The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties. The suspect is deceased. We do not have any further details at this time.”
Tsarnaev, 26, died in a gunfight with police following a chase through the suburbs of Boston in the early hours of 19 April, four days after the bombings that killed three people and injured 264 others at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was found hiding in a boat in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was shot in the throat before his capture and is being held in a prison hospital west of Boston. He faces charges that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.