Man with meat cleaver detained outside Tsarnaev sentencing
Police find large knife inside illegally parked SUV
A man who witnesses say drove through a security checkpoint outside the federal courthouse where Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was being sentenced Wednesday was detained after police found a large knife in his car.
The man, 24-year-old Patrick Carrerio of Woburn, Mass., was arrested and charged with failure to stop for a police officer, disorderly conduct and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department told Yahoo News.
Carrerio drove the SUV past the checkpoint outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse, stopping in a spot reserved for U.S. marshals shortly before 1 p.m. ET, while the court was in recess. Officers searched the vehicle, which did not have a rear license plate attached, and found a meat cleaver.
Carrerio, who bore a striking resemblance to Tsarnaev, was taken away in handcuffs as technicians from the Boston Police bomb squad searched the car.
According to police, Carrerio told them he had driven to the courthouse to express his opposition to the death penalty.
"At no point did the suspect use or threaten anyone with the weapon," the spokesman added.
The bizarre scene came less than a month after Boston police officers shot and killed a knife-wielding Muslim man who FBI officials say had been allegedly planning to attack police officers. The man, 26-year-old Usaama Rahim, was under FBI surveillance when police say he refused to drop a military-style knife he was holding.
Inside the courthouse, Tsarnaev spoke publicly for the first time since the bombings, telling the court that he was sorry for his role in the 2013 attacks that that killed three people and injured nearly 300.
"I would like to now apologize to victims and survivors," Tsarnaev said. "I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering I have caused, and for the terrible damage I have done."
The 21-year-old, who declined to testify on his own behalf during his trial, was given the opportunity to speak before he was formally sentenced to death.
Earlier, bombing survivors and family members of those killed or injured in the bombings delivered victim impact statements, directly addressing Tsarnaev about the suffering and loss he caused.
“I don’t know what to say to you," Patricia Campbell, mother of bombing victim Krystle Campbell, told Tsarnaev. “What you did to my daughter was disgusting.”
Judge George O’Toole addressed Tsarnaev before handing down the sentence.
“When people remember you, they will remember only the evil you have done,” O'Toole said. “No one will remember that your teachers were fond of you, that you were funny, a good athlete. What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed innocent people.”
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