6 Interesting Things We Learned From the Boston Bomber Affidavit
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill three during the Boston Marathon. If guilty, the accused terrorist could face the death penalty.
Law enforcement officials also released the full criminal complaint against Tsarnaev. Here are six of the most interesting things we learned from our first read of the legal complaint:
6. What About the MIT Officer?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Patrol Officer Sean Collier, 26, of Somerville, Mass., was shot to death, April 18, 2013, on the school campus in Cambridge, Mass. (Middlesex District Attorney's Office/AP).
Missing from the affidavit is any mention of the MIT shootout. On the night of the hijacking, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Patrol Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed in his car allegedly by one of the Tsarnaev brothers, according to initial reports.
It's curious that this part of the Boston terror ordeal has been left out of the affidavit. Why do you suppose that is?
5. Injury Count Higher Than Expected?
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Authorities estimate that the injury count from the bombings to have passed 200, higher than all earlier estimates, according to the criminal complaint against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
4) Building a Case
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (FBI.gov)
Following the capture of Dzhokhar on Friday, police say they found a jacket and hat during a search of his room that match the ones he wore at the Boston Marathon.
3. A Confession
Police search the hijacked car on Friday morning. (Screen grab)
Dzhokhar and his now-deceased brother Tamerlane, 26, allegedly hijacked a car on April, 18, according to the affidavit. This is what the victim of the hijacking told law enforcement officials after they asked about the ordeal [emphasis added]:
The victim states that while he was sitting in his car on a road in Cambridge, a man approached and tapped on his passenger-side window. When the victim rolled down the window, the man reached in, opened the door, and entered the victim's vehicle. The man pointed a firearm at the victim and stated, "Did you hear about the Boston explosion?" and "I did that." The man removed the magazine from his gun and showed the victim that it had a bullet in, and then re-inserted the magazine. The man then stated, "I am serious."
2. What the Hijacking Victim Went Through
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The hijacking victim, according to the complaint, had quite an episode with the brothers that Thursday night:
One of the men compelled the victim to hand over his ATM card and password. They then drove to an ATM machine and attempted to withdraw money from the victim's account. The two men and the victim then drove to a gas station/convenience store ... the two men got out of the car, at which point the victim managed to escape.
1) Did the Suspected Bombers Trigger the Explosions Using Cell Phones?
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Moments before the first explosion, "Bomber Two" (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) was captured on security cameras fidgeting with his phone, according to the affidavit:
Were the bombs triggered by cell phones or was Bomber Two simply talking to a friend or an associate? If the surviving brother is found guilty, and it turns out cell phones were used to trigger the explosions, will this set a precedent for authorities to kill cell service during the fog of future attacks?
Here's the full complaint:
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