Report: Suspect may never speak again

UPDATED: Tsarnaev may have attempted suicide

Published April 21, 2013 8:25PM (EDT)

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev    (FBI)
Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (FBI)

Updated 4:47 p.m.: It is being widely speculated that Tsarnaev's bullet wound to the neck was caused by a suicide attempt in the last minutes of the manhunt.

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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings who was taken alive Friday after a massive manhunt, may never speak again, Haaretz reported. Dr. Kevin Ilan Tabb, President and CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said:

"Unfortunately, I have had a lot of experience with these types of injuries after years of treating people injured in terror attacks in Israel," Tabb, 49, told [Israeli news outlet] Ynet. "We have a few Israeli doctors in the emergency room, and the director of the ER is also Israeli. But most of the physicians at the hospital are not Israeli, and they functioned exceptionally well."

Authorities made a concerted effort to capture Tsarnaev alive -- after his brother Tamerlan was killed -- in part because of his potentially high value as an informant. Additionally, Tsarnaev has not been read his Miranda rights under the belief that he may have knowledge about threats to public safety.  He is in serious condition at the hospital.


By Alex Halperin

Alex Halperin is news editor at Salon. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin.

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