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News

What We Know About Boston Bombers Dzhokhar And Tamerlan Tsarnaev

AP and NBC reported that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to the U.S. from or near Chechnya, but both have apparently spent several years in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Via: vk.com
Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, is the remaining suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings — the subject of a massive manhunt Friday morning in Watertown, Massachusetts, multiple sources reported Friday morning.His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been identified as the first suspect and died overnight following a firefight with police.NBC News’ Pete Williams said earlier Friday morning that the two suspects likely had “foreign military training,” and had been in the country for about a year.

Later he said they were brothers, and added, “They were legal permanent residents. They were in this country legally, at least a year. They appear to be from Turkey, possibly Chechens from Turkey. That seems to be the nationality here.”

Just before 7 a.m. Friday morning, the Associated Press confirmed Williams’ reporting and naming Tsarnaev.

Born July 22, 1993, according to Williams, Tsarnaev attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, has a Massachusetts driver’s license, and has been in the country for around a decade.

The brother, although NBC initially reported he was 20, was 26 and named Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He became a legal permanent resident, according to NBC, in 2007. He maintained a YouTube page that focused on Sunni Islam and included a playlist named “terrorist.”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s online profile is more secular, though his “World view” on Vkontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, is listed as “Islam” and his “Personal priority” is “career and money.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died overnight in the firefight with police, suffering from “blast and potentially gunshot wounds … probably a blast injury [and] possibly shrapnel” throughout his trunk.

In 2011, Dzhokar Tsarnaev was recognized as a Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Greater Boston League Winter All Star:

He later graduated from the school:

My beloved nephew on right, djohar tsarnaev on left, happy cambridge Rindge and Latin grads.heartbreaking pic.twitter.com/wCuNo8aApQ

LINK

Former Classmates Shocked By Boston Bomber’s Crimes

rosiegray

The City of Cambridge appears to have given him a $2,500 scholarship in 2011:

He appears to have been involved in Cambridge life as early as 2010:

Nexis also shows he was a registered voter.

His Page on Vkontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, has been overrun with people asking him how he could have committed the bombing, and wishing him dead.

Via: vk.com

Via: vk.com

A favorite joke.

Translation:
A Dagestani, a Chechen, and an Ingush man are sitting in a car.
Question: Who is driving?
Answer: The police.

Via: vk.com

Nexis also shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a registered voter.

A photo series sheds some insight into Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s views.

“Tamerlan Tsarnaev practices boxing at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts center.”

“Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years, Tamerlan says: ‘I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.'”

“Tamerlan says he doesn’t drink or smoke anymore: ‘God said no alcohol.’ A Muslim, he says: ‘There are no values anymore,’ and worries that ‘people can’t control themselves.'”

Back in 2009, Tamerlan was boxing in regional tournaments in New England.

The Lowell Sun reports that he won his first fight in the U.S. in 2004.

Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, 45, who shares an address with the two men and could be their mother, was arrested last summer for shoplifting.

Natick Patch reported last June:

Loss prevention from Lord & Taylor called to report they had detained a shoplifter. Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, 45, of 410 Norfolk St., Apt. 3, Cambridge, was arrested and charged with larceny over $250 (women’s clothing valued at $1,624), and two counts of malicious/wanton damage/defacement to property.

Categories
News

Photo Shows Bomber And His Eight Year Old Victim

The first confirmed victim of the bombings in Boston was just a few feet away from the man who cowardly took his life.

Categories
News

One Boston Bomber Suspect Dead, The Other On The Run

Killed Suspect

Police killed one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing during a shootout and were engaged in a house-to-house search for a second man on Friday in the Boston suburb of Watertown after a bloody night of shooting and explosions in the city’s streets.

Authorities warned people in Watertown not to leave their homes and not to answer the door. During the night a university police officer was killed, a transit police officer was wounded, and the suspects carjacked a vehicle before leading police on a chase that ended with one suspect shot dead.

Police said the suspect they were seeking was the man shown wearing a white cap in surveillance pictures released on Thursday night which had been taken shortly before Monday’s explosions that killed three people and wounded 176 at the finish of the Boston Marathon.

The blasts triggered security scares across the United States and evoked memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On Friday the authorities effectively closed down Boston, halting transportation systems and telling people to stay home as the hunt continued.

Officials said as police had closed in on the two men overnight they attacked the officers with explosives and gunfire before one of them was shot and taken to a hospital, where he died.

On The Run

Police were searching for the man known as Suspect 2 who was photographed wearing a white hat just before the explosions that killed three people and wounded 176. The blasts triggered security scares across the United States and evoked memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“We believe this to be a terrorist,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis of the suspect still at large. “We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him in custody.”

The dramatic events overnight followed the release on Thursday by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of pictures and video of two suspects seen wearing backpacks and baseball caps in the crowd minutes before the bombs exploded.

About five hours later, a university police officer was shot and killed on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Middlesex County District Attorney said in a statement.

A short time later, police received reports of a carjacking by two men who kept their victim inside the car for about half an hour before releasing him, the statement said.

Police pursued that car to Watertown, where explosives were thrown from the car at police and shots were exchanged, the statement said.

“During the exchange of the gunfire, we believe that one of the suspects was struck and ultimately taken into custody. A second suspect was able to flee from that car and there is an active search going on at this point in time,” Colonel Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, told a news conference.

The wounded suspect was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he died, said Dr. Richard Wolfe, chief of emergency medicine.

h/t Reuters

Categories
Featured

Man Buys iPhone For $2.00… From A Three Year Old

A homeless man accused of snatching an iPhone from a 3-year-old boy in Greenwich Village told cops the tyke sold him the phone fair and square — for $2.

“Yeah, I f—ed up,” Feliberto Ramirez, 53, admitted after his arrest last month, according to a police confession released today, as he pleaded not guilty to grand larceny before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel.

“I took the phone,” Ramirez admitted. “But I offered the kid two dollars. He shook his head, said yeah, and he handed me the phone. And I walked out of the store,” he told cops, according to the confession.

As the Post first reported, the tyke, Aidan Tally, of Lodi, NJ, had been playing “Subway Surfer” on his mom’s smart phone while she shopped for sneakers just three feet away in Zacky’s on Broadway.

Ramirez did toss little Aidan a couple bucks before bolting out of Zacky’s on Broadway with the phone, cops said, but that isn’t getting him out of jail just yet.
Ramirez remains held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

h/t NY Post

Categories
Boston News

FBI: Have You Seen These Men? Possible Boston Bombers

The FBI just released this video showing the two men they believe caused the bombing in Boston. According to the press release, the man in the white cap was seen on video placing a bag in the vicinity of one of the bombings.

Anyone having information on who these men are should call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.

Categories
NBA new york knicks Sports veteran

The Fallen Superstar

Tracy McGrady during his tenure with the Houston Rockets

Tracy McGrady, at one time he was probably the best player in the NBA and once the poster player on every kids wall. That’s saying something considering the league was full of superstars ranging from Allen Iverson, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant during McGrady’s reign. T-Mac, as is his best known nickname, played 14 years in the  NBA playing with the: Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, the Chinese League Qingdao Eagles and now with the San Antonio Spurs. During his career McGrady has made the All Star Team 7 times, was a two-time NBA Scoring Leader, the Most Improved Player in 2001, and has made the All NBA First Team twice. The one thing missing from T-Mac’s career accomplishments is a NBA Championship.

“T-Mac to the rack!!”

Tracy McGrady was an awe to watch him play, as he was just so explosive in his drives to the basket. It became normal to hear “T-Mac to the rack!” followed by the loud cheer and applause from the crowd watching a true superstar perform on a level above anyone else.  His best known performance came from his time in Houston as he scored thirteen points in a mere thirty-three seconds. This man could score on a level well beyond any player during his prime, the game of basketball came too easy to T-Mac during his greatest years. It’s a shame then to have seen Tracy McGrady slowly decline in his later years due to injuries and just the miles of playing catching up to him. At the end of the 2012 season with his contract with the Atlanta Hawks done, it looked like Tracy McGrady had no where else to go in the NBA; McGrady signed overseas to the Qingdao Eagles in the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association).

McGrady played in China for their leagues 2012-2013 season where his numbers were respectable to say the least

Two days ago on April 16th, T-Mac was signed to join the playoff bound San Antonio Spurs to help bolster their team. While Tracy McGrady is past his prime and his body is hampered by nagging injuries, he still has shown to still be able to play on a high level accompanied by flashbacks of his earlier dominance. While I doubt T-Mac will make that much of a difference to the Spurs overall playoff success or failure, I am happy enough to see T-Mac back in the NBA. Maybe..just maybe I will hear the words “T-Mac to the rack!” echo through my television one last time.

Categories
Boston News

Teen: I Am Not the Boston Marathon Bomber

Salah Barhoun, 17, said he went to the police yesterday to clear his name after he found himself tagged in pictures online in connection to the Boston Marathon bombing. (Aaron “Tango” Tang)

By SHAHRIAR RAHMANZADEH, JENNIFER LEONG, SANTINA LEUCI and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
April 18, 2013

The teenage boy authorities once investigated as possibly being connected to the Boston Marathon bombing told ABC News today he was shocked to see his face pop up on television and all over social media.

Salah Barhoun, 17, said he went to the police yesterday to clear his name after he found himself tagged in pictures online. He had just gone to watch the race, he said, but soon after the explosions, he was singled out by internet sleuths as looking suspicious. Federal authorities passed around images of Barhoun, attempting to learn more information about him, sources told ABC News.

Today The New York Post ran a story featuring a picture of Barhoun and another man circled in red, but said it was unclear if they were the same as two potential suspects spotted by law enforcement Wednesday.

When he saw the front page story, with the headline “Bag Men,” Barhoun said, “It’s the worst feeling that I can possibly feel… I’m only 17.”

ABC News producers found Barhoun through social media and spoke to him today at his home. He said he had actually wanted to run the race and when he couldn’t, decided to watch.

Barhoun’s younger brother, who declined to be identified, said that it made his mother “sick and upset” that her son had been connected to the tragedy.

“It made her think he had done something wrong,” the younger brother said. “My brother is not the bomber.”

Federal law enforcement sources told ABC News they are no longer seeking information about Barhoun or the other man in the photo published in the Post.

Categories
News

Viral Video Shows Moment of Explosion At Texas Fertilizer Plant

The video below shows a man doing what any other tech savvy person would be tempted to do. Sitting in his car with a companion, the man thought they were at a safe distance, as he filmed the beginning stages of the Texas Fertilizer plant going up in flames.

Then a few seconds into the video the explosion is seen and the man and his companion soon realized that they were a little too close for comfort.

It was later revealed that the occupants of the car was a man and his daughter. According to the Today Show, they have regained their hearing. According to KWTX, as many as 70 people may have been killed.

Warning: This may be disturbing to some.

h/t Mashable

Categories
gun control Politics Senate

Gabby Giffirds Scolding Remarks To Failed Senate

The Senate’s refusal to do the right thing yesterday and approve extended background checks rubbed many Americans the wrong way. After all, 90% of the American people wanted this amendment passed. But republicans successfully killed the measure, choosing instead to cater to the demands of the NRA.

Expressing her disappointment is Gabby Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence when she was shot in the head by a crazed gunman. Giffords spoke out in an op-ed in today’s New York Times.

SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms – a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.

Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents – who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.

I watch TV and read the papers like everyone else. We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like “tough vote” and “complicated issue.” I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending.

Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo – desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation – to go on.

I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences.

People have told me that I’m courageous, but I have seen greater courage. Gabe Zimmerman, my friend and staff member in whose honor we dedicated a room in the United States Capitol this week, saw me shot in the head and saw the shooter turn his gunfire on others. Gabe ran toward me as I lay bleeding. Toward gunfire. And then the gunman shot him, and then Gabe died. His body lay on the pavement in front of the Safeway for hours.

I have thought a lot about why Gabe ran toward me when he could have run away. Service was part of his life, but it was also his job. The senators who voted against background checks for online and gun-show sales, and those who voted against checks to screen out would-be gun buyers with mental illness, failed to do their job.

Read More.

Categories
democrats Politics

These So-Called Democrats Voted Against Background Checks

Yes, 90% of Americans wanted at least a background check done whenever someone buys a gun. No, Americans did not get what they wanted today, as Republicans joined hand in hand and voted against that most basic idea.

And, these so-called Democrats joined the Republicans in defeating background checks.

Categories
News violence

The Endless Violence Is Taking A Toll

It is getting so hard to believe in Humanity these days. What’s wrong with people? What causes a person – who is having serious issues in their own lives – to decide to take someone else’s life? The debate is whether these individuals have ‘mental issues’. Yes. That is obvious. But, the question still remains, what causes them to want to take it out on All mankind?

The Boston Marathon bombing was just added to the litany of violent crimes perpetrated on innocent Americans just enjoying their lives, their day, and their families when the unthinkable happened.

Today, a letter addressed to President Obama, was laced with ricin which is a toxic protein agent that is used as a biochemical. This same ricin was intercepted by authorities when it was sent to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. An arrest was made today in the Tupelo, MS area.
The Newtown Ct. shooting that still has politicians and the NRA fighting over banning semi-automatic weapons. The massacre which robbed the lives of 20-first graders was so appalling, disturbing and unsettling; it tears at the very heart of Hope. How can anyone kill a child?

The movie theatre massacre in Colorado killed 12 and wounded over 50 others. People just wanted to go out and enjoy a nice night out at the movies with friends, family and their children when yet again, a brazened attack on the innocent.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, was shot point blank in the head where six were killed, including a 9-year old girl and 13 others wounded while speaking at a neighborhood shopping center in Arizona. She survived but not without causing severe damage to her brain.

And this is just in America. The outside world is even more dysfunctional than here with suicide killers in Iran and Iraq almost daily. In 2011, a massacre in Norway tore apart a community when a lone killer plotted and executed a plan which included a car bombing, killing 8 and wounded over 200. Then, less than two hours later at a summer camp full of youth, a gunman opened fire upon them and killed 69 for a total of 77.

Are we seeing a pattern yet?

Everyday people, going through their ordinary lives with the ones they love. Why would anyone think the unthinkable would possibly happen to them? We’re not supposed to live in fear. We are not to look over our shoulder every second.

I’m just tired. I’m tired of the violence, the excuses for violence and lawyers attempting to persuade America their clients are ‘Clinically Insane’.

When does this stop? What is wrong world? I know we can’t agree on everything but killing others because of conflict is not the way.

Somehow, someway, Mankind has to find a way to end the violence. I don’t want to give up on Hope but people are making it harder to believe that Hope even exist.

Categories
News

BREAKING: FBI Agents Arrested Paul Kevin Curtis For Ricin Mailings.

The FBI identified the man as Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Miss.

He was arrested at his home at approximately 5:15 CT, the FBI said in a written statement, adding he was “believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the U.S. Postal Inspection Service which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin. The letters were addressed to a U.S. senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official.”

The letter addressed to President Obama that field-tested positive for the poison ricin included the message, “To see a wrong and not expose it is to become a silent partner to its continuance,” according to a source familiar with an investigation of the incident.

“I am KC and I approve this message,” the letter read.

The letter was received at the remote White House mail screening facility Tuesday, according to law enforcement officials.

The facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery.

The separate Senate mail-handling facility on Tuesday also received a suspicious letter potentially laced with ricin addressed to Sen. Wicker, postmarked from Memphis. It contained the same message included in the letter addressed to the president, according to the source.

Testing on the first letter, addressed to Wicker, was incomplete but expected to be finished this evening, at the earliest, according to sources.

Field tests are often unreliable, and a false positive for ricin occurs at least once each year, a homeland security official told ABC News.

Meanwhile, the sources said, a sensor today was activated at a third federal government mail sorting facility. Investigators were culling through the mail to see whether they could identify a suspicious letter.

The facility, they said, sorts mail for the Department of Justice. The sensor was undergoing additional testing at a lab. A source cautioned that the sensor activation might involve a false positive and not be related to the other letters.

The Secret Service’s White House mail-screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, through which all White House mail goes.

The Secret Service was working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI in the investigation.

“The investigation into these letters remains ongoing, and more letters may still be received,” the FBI said in a statement this morning. “There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston.”

The FBI added: “It is important to note that operations at the White House have not been affected as a result of the investigation.

“Additionally, filters at a second government mail screening facility preliminarily tested positive for ricin this morning. Mail from that facility is being tested.”

FBI sources said anytime suspicious powder is located in a mail facility, field tests are conducted. The field and other preliminary tests in this instance produced inconsistent results. The material has been sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.

Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests were in the process of being conducted and generally take from 24 to 48 hours.

The Centers for Disease Control defines ricin as a poison that comes from castor beans and can be found in a powder, a mist, a pellet or dissolved in water.

“In the 1940s, the U.S. military experimented with using ricin as a possible warfare agent,” the CDC writes. “In some reports ricin has possibly been used as a warfare agent in the 1980s in Iraq and more recently by terrorist organizations.”

Meanwhile, Senate offices were on partial lockdown today after the discovery of suspicious packages. The police investigation centered on the offices of Sens. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the Russell Senate Building, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in the Hart Senate Office Building.

The lockdown was unrelated to the Wicker letter.

Also, the Saginaw, Mich., office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., received a suspicious-looking letter this morning. The office did not know whether it was a threat.

Teens Accused of Teacher Poison Attempt With Hand Sanitizer Watch Video

“The letter was not opened, and the staffer followed the proper protocols for the situation, including alerting the authorities, who are now investigating. We do not know yet if the mail presented a threat,” Levin said in a paper statement.

“I’m grateful for my staff’s quick response and for government personnel at all levels who are responding.”

Several senators have reported suspicious packages delivered to their district offices, with no reports of any credible threats.

But underscoring the jitters among Senate D.C. and district offices, Sen. Deb Fischer’s, R-Neb., Lincoln, Neb., office contacted police when staff found a suspicious package outside this morning.

It turned out to be a used-car part left in a bag on top of a lawn chair.

h/t ABC News.

 

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