Uncategorized

The lives of the bombing suspects

Former classmates of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who is still at large, say he was “sweet” and “laid back”. Classmates tell Buzzfeed that he  was on the wrestling team at Boston-area public school, and is now a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

“I didn’t know Jahar extremely well but he was literally among the sweetest, most laid back guys I’ve ever known,” said another student at Harvard who went to Cambridge Rindge and Latin and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Always friendly and welcoming, I always felt comfortable hanging out with him.”

The Boston Globe has his Russian-version-of Facebook profile.

The site lists his world view as “Islam,” and personal priority as “Career and money.”

The brothers came to the US about ten years ago, said their uncle.

As young children, the brothers lives in  in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia’s Dagestan region near Chechnya. Foreign Policy has details about the violence there:

“The Caucasian Knot website recorded378 insurgency-related deaths and 307 people wounded in the republic in 2010 (compared with Ingushetia with 134 deaths and 192 wounded, and Chechnya with 127 and 123). In Makhachkala, the militants — operating from safe houses and mountain bases — shoot and bomb the cars of police and officials. People calmly follow the plumes of smoke to take a look and film the scorched remains on their cell phones.”

Their father still lives there, according to AP:

Anzor Tsarnaev spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala on Friday after police said one of his sons, 26-year-old Tamerlan, had been killed in a shootout and the other, Dzhokhar, was being intensely pursued.

“My son is a true angel,” the elder Tsarnaev said. “Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here.”

His brother,  Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shoot-out with police overnight. He was a competitive boxer who aspired to compete for the U.S. in the Olympics.
Photographer Johannes Hirn has put together a remarkable photo profile of the boxer entitled “Will Box for Passport”, along with an interview:
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.”

 

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.