Search of Tsarnaevs’ phones, computers finds no indication of accomplice, source says
FBI Photo
Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing.
NBC’s Pete Williams outlines the charges against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the types of questions authorities are asking him now that he is able to communicate.
By Michael Isikoff, Pete Williams and Erin McClam, NBC News
A preliminary examination of the cellphones and computers used by the Tsarnaev brothers has found no indication of an accomplice in the Boston Marathon bombing, according to a U.S. counter-terrorism source briefed on the FBI investigation.
The source stressed that the investigation is ongoing, but bureau officials at this point appear increasingly confident that “nobody else was involved,” said the source.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told investigators he and his brother acted alone, learned to build the pressure-cooker bombs over the Internet and were motivated by a desire to defend Islam because of “the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the source, who has received multiple briefings on the probe.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has also told investigators that he and his brother got instructions on building bombs from an online magazine published by al Qaeda, federal law enforcement officials told NBC News.
He told investigators that the brothers read the instructions in Inspire, an online, English-language magazine that terror monitoring groups say al Qaeda began publishing in 2010.
The magazine has twice included articles on building bombs with kitchen pressure cookers — the method investigators say Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, used in the Boston attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested Friday after a manhunt that shut down Boston and its suburbs. He was interrogated in a Boston hospital bed, where he is recovering from injuries sustained in shootouts during the hunt. His condition was upgraded Tuesday to fair from serious, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said.
Federal authorities charged him Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction, which could carry the death penalty. State officials said they expected to charge him in the death of a campus patrol officer as part of the shootout that authorities say the brothers carried out early Friday, NBC affiliate WHDH reported.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators that he and Tamerlan, who was killed after the shootout with police in the Boston suburb of Watertown, were motivated by religious fervor but were not in touch with overseas terrorists or terror groups, officials said.
Several officials familiar with the interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described his behavior as cooperative.
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Officials: Hospitalized bombing suspect says he and brother acted alone, motivated by religion
NBC’s Pete Williams explains the preliminary charges filed against Boston bombing suspect Dahokhar Tsarnaev.
By Pete Williams, Michael Iskoff, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor, NBC News
The hospitalized Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction has told investigators that he and his brother were motivated by religion but were not in contact with overseas terrorists or groups, officials said.
Several officials familiar with the initial interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described his behavior during questioning as cooperative.
A senior government official said Tsarnaev has told investigators — by writing some answers down, and by nodding yes or shaking his head no to others — that he and his brother were not in touch with any overseas terrorists or groups.
Tsarnaev, who has injuries to his tongue preventing him from speaking properly, also indicated that he and his brother conceived the bombing attack on their own, and were motivated by religious fervor.
They got their instructions on how to make bombs from the Internet, he said, according to these officials.
Earlier on Monday, the White House said he will be tried in a civilian court.
FBI Photo
Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing.
“He will not be treated as an enemy combatant. We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
“Under U.S. law, United States citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. And it is important to remember that since 9/11 we have used the federal court system to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.”
Tsarnaev, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin, made his initial court appearance at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.
He was advised of his rights and charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S. and one count of malicious destruction of property with an explosive device.
He was assigned three federal public defenders. The charges could carry the death penalty.
The suspect agreed to “voluntary detention,” but declined to answer questions about bail, according to a court record. A probable cause hearing was set for May 30.
“Today’s charges bring a successful end to a tragic week for the city of Boston and for our country,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
“We will hold those who are responsible for these heinous acts accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
A criminal complaint laid out some of the evidence against Tsarnaev, who was arrested Friday after a daylong manhunt, and his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a firefight with police.
A black jacket and white hat, matching the ones worn by “Suspect No. 2” in surveillance video, were found in the younger brother’s dorm room, along with green strands of fuse like those used in the marathon explosives that killed three and wounded more than 170.
The video also captured the suspect making a cellphone call seconds before the first bomb exploded on the east end of Boylston St. during last Monday’s race, and his utter calm in the face of spreading panic, the complaint said. The footage showed him hurrying away from his knapsack just 10 seconds before a blast erupted where he left it.
Tsarnaev was brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head, neck, leg and hand. He had been communicating with investigators in writing because he couldn’t speak, federal officials told NBC News.
The FBI has not officially revealed a motive for the attack last Monday that killed three people — one of whom, Krystle Campbell, was laid to rest in Medford on Monday. Investigators are still probing whether the brothers received assistance from others, officials said.
7 biggest unanswered questions in Boston bombing…..
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Wife of dead bombing suspect: Husband’s alleged involvement was ‘absolute shock’
William Farrington / Polaris
The American wife of suspected marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Katherine Russell, leaving the house where he lived on Norfolk Street in Cambridge, Mass.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
The American wife of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect is cooperating with investigators, and her husband’s alleged involvement in the attack came as an “absolute shock,” her lawyers said Tuesday.
The lawyers would not say whether Katherine Russell, who is known as Katie and married Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2010, had already spoken with the FBI.
“The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all,” lawyer Miriam Weizzenbaum said, speaking of Russell’s family, according to NBC affiliate WJAR in Providence, R.I.
“As a mother, sister, daughter, wife, Katie deeply mourns the pain and loss to innocent victims,” she added.
Another lawyer, Amato DeLuca, said that Russell was doing “everything she can to assist with the investigation.”
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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: ‘Boston bombs were Tamerlan’s idea’
Teenager says older brother was ‘driving force’ behind attack because he wanted to ‘defend Islam’
LAST UPDATED AT 09:10 ON Tue 23 Apr 2013
DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV has blamed his older brother Tamerlan for the Boston marathon bombing and told investigators they were not part of any international terrorist group, CNN reports.
A federal magistrate presided at the 19-year-old’s bedside at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital last night to hear him charged with detonating a “weapon of mass destruction” to kill and maim civilians – a charge that carries the death penalty.
Dzhokhar, who has gunshot wounds to his head, neck, hands and leg, was sedated and on a ventilator, but was described as “alert, mentally competent and lucid”.
Providing his answers in writing, he claimed his 26-year-old brother was the “driving force” behind the bombings and that Tamerlan wanted to “defend Islam from attack”, a US government source told CNN. The teenager was able to speak once, saying “no” when asked if he could afford a lawyer.
Authorities had initially refrained from reading Dzhokhar his Miranda Rights, because he is a suspected terrorist. It is understood he has now been read his rights and they were reiterated at last night’s hearing at the hospital.
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