Florida man with connection to Tsarnaev killed by FBI

Ibragim Todashev reportedly attacked an agent who was interviewing him about links to Boston suspects

Published May 22, 2013 11:44AM (EDT)

According to NBC's local affiliate in Orlando Wednesday, a 27-year-old man shot dead in Florida by an FBI agent had connections to the Boston bombing suspects. Ibragim Todashev was reportedly being interviewed about his links to the elder Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan, when he attacked the agent and was shot.

NBC reported:

A friend of the suspect, Khusn Taramiv, said his friend, 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, was being investigated as part of the Boston bombings and knew Tsarnaev because both were MMA fighters.

Taramiv claims he and Todashev were interviewed by the FBI for nearly three hours on Tuesday.

"(The FBI) took me and my friend, the suspect that got killed. They were talking to us, both of us, right? And they said they need him for a little more, for a couple more hours, and I left, and they told me they’re going to bring him back. They never brought him back," Taramiv said.

"He felt inside he was going to get shot," Taramiv said about Todashev. "I told him, 'Everything is going to be fine, don't worry about it.' He said, 'I have a really bad feeling.'"

Taramiv said he left the interview and when he came back to the apartments he found that there had been a shooting.

"I was completely shocked. I still can’t believe it, you know what I mean?" he said.

Investigations into the Boston Marathon bombing, and particularly Tamerlan Tsarnaev's possible terror links around the world, are ongoing. Next week Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., will lead a bipartisan delegation to Russia to seek answers about why warnings about Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev failed to capture the attention of U.S. authorities.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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