suspects. (Associated
Press)
By Sari Horwitz and Peter Finn, Published:
MAY 29, 7:02 PM ET
Aa
A Chechen man who was fatally shot by an FBI
agent last week during an interview about one
of the Boston bombing suspects was unarmed,
law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
An air of mystery has surrounded the FBI
shooting of Ibragim Todashev, 27, since it
occurred in Todashev’s apartment early on the
morning of May 22. The FBI said in a news
release that day that Todashev, a former
Boston resident who knew bombing suspect
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed during an
interview with several law enforcement officers.
The FBI has provided few other details, saying
that the matter is being investigated by an FBI
review team that may not finish its probe for
several months.
Image
In this booking photo provided by the
Orange County Sheriff's Office, Ibragim
Todashev poses for his mug shot after
being arrested for aggravated battery on
May 4 in Orlando, Fla. (Handout/GETTY
IMAGES)
“The FBI takes very seriously any shooting
incidents involving our agents and as such we
have an effective, time-tested process for
addressing them internally,” FBI spokesman
Paul Bresson said in a statement Wednesday.
“The review process is thorough and objective
and conducted as expeditiously as possible
under the circumstances.”
The Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday
called for an independent investigation by the
Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Officials said the division and local prosecutors
are already reviewing the case.
At the time of the shooting, Todashev was
being interviewed about his possible
connection to a triple murder in Waltham,
Mass., on Sept. 11, 2011. Law enforcement
officials said he had acknowledged involvement
in the murders and had implicated Tsarnaev.
Officials said Todashev was not suspected of
involvement in the April 15 Boston bombing.
Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police
four days after the bombing. His younger
brother, Dzhokhar, was captured later that day
and remains in custody.
In the statement about Todashev’s shooting
issued on the day of the incident, the FBI said
that an agent, along with two Massachusetts
State Police troopers and other law
enforcement personnel, were interviewing “an
individual” in connection with the Boston
Marathon bombing investigation when a
“violent confrontation was initiated by the
individual.”
An agent sustained non-life-threatening
injuries, later described by one law enforcement
official as “some cuts and abrasions.”
Initial reports citing anonymous law-
enforcement individuals provided conflicting
accounts of what happened. Some law
enforcement officials said Todashev wielded a
knife and others suggested that he attempted
to grab the FBI agent’s gun.
One law enforcement official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing
investigation, said Wednesday that Todashev
lunged at the agent and overturned a table. But
the official said Todashev did not have a gun
or a knife. A second official also said Todashev
was unarmed.
An official said that according to one account
of the shooting, the other law enforcement
officials had just stepped out of the room,
leaving the FBI agent alone with Todashev,
when the confrontation occurred.
The shooting followed hours of questioning by
the law enforcement officials that had begun
the night before.
Todashev’s father said after the shooting that
he didn’t believe the FBI’s account of why they
killed his son.
“My son could never commit a crime, I know
my son too well,” Abdul-Baki Todashev, who
lives in Chechnya, told the Daily Beast Web site.
“He worked helping disabled people in America
and did sports, coached other sportsmen. The
FBI made up their accusations.”
Todashev, a martial arts fighter, met Tamerlan
Tsarnaev in fighting circles in Boston before
Todashev moved to Orlando.
Todashev’s family said he had a ticket to fly to
Russia this month and planned to spend the
summer in his native Chechnya.