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FBI agent cleared in Florida shooting of suspect questioned about Boston bombing FBI agent cleared in Florida shooting of suspect questioned about Boston bombing
(about 4 hours later)
A Florida prosecutor has ruled that an FBI agent was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed a Chechen man connected to two brothers accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing. A Department of Justice investigation will rule an FBI agent was justified in using deadly force last May when he shot and killed Ibragim Todashev, a Chechen man connected to the brothers accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing, according to law enforcement officials.
Law enforcement officials said that Ibragim Todashev, 27, a mixed-martial-arts fighter, attacked the agent with a metal pole during an interview at his Orlando apartment on May 22. The officials said that an independent investigation set to be released next week will also clear the agent, however the Florida prosecutor overseeing that probe denied Friday that he has come to a final conclusion on the shooting.
FBI officials have said the male agent, who has not been identified, was acting in self-defense when he shot Todashev multiple times. The agent suffered a wound to the back of the head that required stitches. It’s not clear what first sparked the confrontation. After a lengthy interrogation at his Orlando apartment on May 22, Todashev, 27, a mixed martial-arts fighter, attacked the agent with a metal pole after first implicating himself in an unsolved 2011 triple murder, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss reports that have not yet been released.
The investigation’s conclusion seemingly brings to an end a 10-month push by Todashev’s family and several civil rights organizations for more information about the shooting. Officials said the male agent, who has not been identified, acted in self-defense. After Todashev charged, the agent shot him once, according to officials, who said that Todashev then got up and was shot again several times. It’s not clear what first sparked the confrontation.
Officials with the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group that has provided Todashev’s family with legal representation, said the investigation’s conclusion is troubling. It also remains unclear whether the agent, who worked out of the FBI’s Boston office, was alone with Todashev when the shooting occurred.
“Obviously we have a lot of concerns about this, a lot of concerns,” said Hassan Shibly, executive director of the group’s Florida chapter. “We’re eagerly waiting to see the full report. We weren’t expecting any of this to come out today.” The FBI cleared the agent in the Todashev shooting several months ago and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is in the final stages of finishing its own investigation and is also expected to clear him, according to individuals familiar with that inquiry.
The FBI cleared the agent in the Todashev shooting several months ago. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is in the final stages of finishing its own investigation and is also expected to clear him, according to individuals familiar with that inquiry. The separate, independent investigation is being conducted by Florida prosecutor Jeffrey Ashton. In a statement released Friday afternoon, Ashton insisted that his investigation is not yet complete.
The FBI had gone to Florida to question Todashev, who was friends with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers. “The State Attorney intends to review all materials over the weekend & make his final decision no later than sometime Monday.” Ashton’s office said. “The release of purported information is inaccurate and unfair to Mr. Todashev’s surviving family and the police officers involved in the incident and their families.” Earlier this week, he said he planned a news conference Tuesday.
Tsarnaev was killed in the aftermath of the Boston bombings in a confrontation with police as he tried to escape with his younger brother, who ran him over in a car while trying to elude police. In an e-mail Friday, Todashev’s family attorney Barry Cohen referred to the Post’s reporting on the shooting “as amateurishly and irresponsibly leaked information.” He added that the Todashev family would formally respond once both reports were made public.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later apprehended and charged in the bombing. The FBI had gone to Florida to question Todashev, who was friends with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers. The two men were both Chechen immigrants who were sparring partners while they both lived in Boston.
Before he attacked the agent, Todashev told investigators he and Tsarnaev had participated in a slaying in Waltham, Mass., in 2011, officials said. According to Todashev’s friends, he last spoke on the phone with Tsarnaev in March, a month before the bombings. Todashev later deleted the call from his phone log, which his friends believe sparked the FBI’s suspicions.
Several friends and family members of Todashev have insisted that he had never previously discussed with them his friendship with the elder Tsarnaev brother or the Waltham murder. Tsarnaev was killed in the aftermath of the Boston bombings in a confrontation with police as he tried to escape with his younger brother, who ran him over in a car while trying to elude police. His younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later apprehended and charged in the bombing.
Questions continue to surround the shooting, which occurred 10 months ago in an apartment complex just up the street from the entrance to Disney World. According to friends and family members of Todashev, he was questioned for more than five hours in his apartment before the shooting and believed that he had been followed for weeks by federal agents. The shooting — just one month after the marathon bombings — happened on a rainy spring evening at a quiet apartment complex just several hundred feet from the entrance to Disney World. Neighbors who heard the gunshots said they assumed the noise was a late-night fireworks show at the theme park.
In the months since the shooting, several of Todashev’s close friends — including a friend who initially attended the fatal FBI interview with him, as well as Todashev’s live-in girlfriend — have said that they have been arrested, deported or barred from re-entering the U.S. Initially, law enforcement officials advanced several theories about what led to the shooting — giving conflicting statements about how, if at all, Todashev was armed when he allegedly attacked the agent.
Jeffrey Ashton, the Florida state prosecutor who reviewed the shooting, is expected to make the results public Tuesday. Officials with the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday called for the FBI to provide more details.
A message left with Ashton’s office was not immediately returned. Law enforcement officials said that before he attacked the agent, Todashev admitted that he and Tsarnaev had participated in a gruesome triple murder on Sept. 11, 2011 in Waltham, Mass.
Todashev’s family has worked with CAIR, the state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida and Massachusetts, and prominent Florida lawyer Barry Cohen to pressure federal officials to release more information and to secure the independent investigation. That slaying, in which three men — including one of Tsarnaev’s best friends — were found with their throats slashed and bodies covered in marijuana, remains unsolved.
A message left with Cohen’s office was not immediately returned. Todashev’s friends and family has insisted he had never previously discussed the Waltham murders with them, and could not have been involved.
The CAIR legal team had met Friday morning to discuss how it would respond to the report and was caught off guard when the information leaked. Since the shooting, several of Todashev’s associates — including his best friend Khusen Taramov, and Todashev’s live-in girlfriend Tatiana Gruzdeva — have said that they have been arrested, deported or barred from the U.S.
“Certainly, the FBI’s failure to prosecute a single agent in its history for shooting a suspect does not help its credibility,” Shibly said. “They have also done an excellent job ensuring that key friends and witnesses to the events of the night are unable to be in the U.S. before the report is released.” Gruzdeva was detained by immigration officials and later deported to Russia. Taramov has said he has been barred by federal authorities from re-entering the United States.
“They (the FBI) have also done an excellent job ensuring that key friends and witnesses to the events of the night are unable to be in the U.S. before the report is released,” said Hassan Shibly, executive director of CAIR’s Florida chapter. “The DOJ’s and the State Attorney’s investigations relied on evidence gathered by the FBI and the only person who can contradict first hand their narrative is dead.”