Officials: Man who knew Boston bombing suspect was unarmed when shot

[DonViejo]

Source: WaPo

A Chechen man who was fatally shot by an FBI agent a week ago during an interview about one of the Boston bombing suspects was unarmed, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

In a statement about the shooting of Ibragim Todashev, which was issued on the day of the incident, the FBI said that authorities were interviewing “an individual” in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a “violent confrontation was initiated by the individual.” Initial reports citing anonymous law-enforcement sources provided conflicting accounts of what happened.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/officials-man-who-knew-boston-bomber-was-unarmed-when-shot/2013/05/29/21f05b74-c8a8-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html

[DirkGently]

1. There's another story out that he had a "sword."

This story is proving extremely hard to nail down.


http://www.wogx.com/story/22444516/ibragim-todashev-attacked-fbi-agent-in-orlando-with-sword-source-says

During the May 22 interview, according to the source, Todashev was in the process of writing a confession to his involvement in the Waltham murders when Todashev suddenly became violent.

He flipped over a table, knocking the FBI agent back into a wall, causing him to hit his head. When the agent came to, Todashev was waving a ceremonial sword at him, the source said. Fearing for his life, the agent opened fire. He was hospitalized and received nine stitches in his head.

[whathehell]

3. How the hell did he manage to bring in a "ceremonial sword" into a government agency? n/t

[DirkGently]

6. I think the interview was at his house, for some reason

... which itself is strange, if true.

Police tape blocked off the complex of townhomes near Universal Studios where Todashev was shot.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/ibragim-todashev-shot_n_3318332.html

[MADem]

18. The interview happened in his condo. nt

[Tx4obama]

2. I read several days ago that he was unarmed. I think this is probably 'old' news. n/t

[DonViejo]

9. I remember that, it was a "report" based on...

anonymous sources. I think this differs in that it's the FBI publicly admitting an unarmed man in their custody was shot and killed.

[temmer]

22. No - all initial reports said he had a knife and stabbed

the FBI agent, and that this agent was wounded and in the hospital.

The source for both informations seem to be two or three "anonymous officials". Apparently these guys, who were present during the interrogation, have backtracked from the knife story.

[DonViejo]

27. Yes - there was a report a few days to a week ago

that he was unarmed. It was a report made based on anonymous sources.

On edit: The article also mentioned the two other officers present were back pedaling on their stories

[KamaAina]

4. Hey! I just learned some Chechen!

"Ibragim Todashev" means "Oscar Grant".

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Didn't the guy end up being Jewish?

A Jewish Muslim terrorist, I guess.

[DonViejo]

7. LOL, Manny...we struggled with the same article...

There was an article posted here that, I think, awkwardly reported that one of the stabbing victims was Jewish. The wording of the sentence left me with the impression the dead man was Jewish, deeper reading of the OP cleared it up. Initially, I was like, "WTH? the Muslim was Jewish?"

[Gore1FL]

10. It gets so hard to differentiate one Abrahamic lineage from another. n/t

[randome]

15. Hence the eternal kerfuffle that is the Middle East.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[24601]

8. So the point is that the administration has executed an unarmed person without trial?

[Cha]

11. What? The administration? How did you get that from what happened?

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.

[24601]

16. Individuals in the Executive Branch are part of the incumbent President's Administration. Those

in the Legislative and Judicial Branches are not. It makes it kind of fuzzy when defining the VP since IAW 5 USC Section 2106, the Vice President is a member of Congress:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title5/pdf/USCODE-2011-title5-partIII.pdf (Quoted below)

"§ 2106. Member of Congress For the purpose of this title, ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means the Vice President, a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, a Delegate to the House of Representatives, and
the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico."

What that means in practice is that the VP has Executive Branch authorities only as delegated by the President.

[Cha]

17. So, thanks.. This individual is responsible for his actions and after the investigation

will be dealt with. He'll either be exonerated or charged.

[Pterodactyl]

14. That's ridiculous. That would require a drone strike.

[Factfriendly McFact]

12. Either officials or journalists lied to the American people

I originally read that the man had a knife.

[Cha]

13. This is kinda strange, DV. Said it could

take months.. one thing seems consistant is the FBI agent still had "non life threatening cuts and abrasions".

So, he didn't just pull his gun and shoot an unarmed man. Could have been excessive force? Dunno. Too bad it had to happen this way.

[MADem]

19. The deceased was a mixed martial artist, who was out on bond

after beating the shit out of a teen (who sustained serious injuries) because he was arguing with the teen's father over a parking space.

[Cha]

21. I know.. I always have this at the

back of my mind(what an explosive history he has). Trying to visualize what could have happened to precipitate lethal force.

It's crazy to even speculate.. But, it's such a mystery I keep looking for clues. It seems insane to attack an armed FBI agent in your home with others close by.. but, irrational behavior cannot be ruled out given what we do know.

I hope they figure this out sooner than later.. being a part of the investigation into the Boston Bombings.

[MADem]

30. I wonder if any of this crew was playing with a full deck.

This guy had a lot to lose--it could be he thought he could overpower the guy, grab his gun, and make his escape. I think he had a high regard for his own ability to cause damage.

He had no visible means of support (he did have an estranged wife living in a different city with a job--how nice how these guys always have some explanation, like a wife with a paycheck, for the cash they manage to have), he had a super-hot young girlfriend, who was out of his league in the looks department, he had his ubiquitous Mercedes car...I think the "drug dealer" alarms are going off, at a minimum, and I am wondering if law enforcement placed this guy, through cellphone pings or DNA or who-knows-what, in Waltham on the day of that triple homicide. Life w/o parole is a reason to act in a desperate fashion. The death penalty (if he had been found to be a bombing co-conspirator) is even more of a motivator.

Time will tell, though!

[hopemountain]

20. so where is the video and tape?

don't they always videotape or tape record their interviews? hmmmmmm.

[Blue_Tires]

37. The interview was in the suspect's home

I am curious to know why he would agree to talk with no attorney present...

[temmer]

23. so the "the Tsarnaevs did the Waltham triple murder" story is dead

isn't it?

The same guys who lied about a knife in Todashev's hand also claimed that he orally confessed his and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's involvement in the Waltham killings. But there is no signed confession.

Both parts of the story - the confession and the knife attack - stank from the beginning. One part is done now. I think we can file away the other, too.

[marshall]

24. I guess unarmed just means no guns

We don't consider swords, knives, and other cutting weapons to be arms.

[temmer]

25. In this context, we can exclude a knife

because a knife was reported in the previous versions. I don't see why the WaPo shouldn't stay to this version if it was true. Apparently it's not true.

[Eddie Haskell]

26. Armed or not ...

The FBI was able to positively ID the Boston bombing suspects, shut down a large suburb of Boston, and apprehend the bombers within two days? But when their own agent fires a shot witnessed by other officers in a crime scene limited to a single room, it takes months to draw a conclusion.

Think about it.

[graham4anything]

28. There was a vicious triple murder where the dead were stabbed horribly.

One of the most horrific unsolved crimes in American history.

This one hit personally as my sister lived in that town when it happened, and it reminded her of the Sharon Tate killings in their viciousness.

[MannyGoldstein]

29. I'll bet this is what happened

Two of the cops left the other alone with the suspect, very stupid thing to do. Suspect attacked. Lone officer knew suspect was some sort of martial arts guy and shot, fearing suspect might grab his gun.

Cops were embarrassed and/or may have done something against the rules and/or illegal, so they fibbed. Now, big mess.

While I like our local Boston-area cops, my experience with the Staties has been less than optimal to date.

[MADem]

31. One of the three was FBI. Wasn't it the FBI guy that got wounded

and had to go to hospital?

I agree that staties aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, and some are quick to overreact (the ones at Logan, particularly) but I've had good experiences with the ones who pull you over for speeding (and let you go).

[MannyGoldstein]

33. You must have better karma than I do

The two times I've been pulled over by staties, I got tickets. One totally bogus, the other mostly so.

Every time I've been pulled over by town cops I've only gotten a warning.

[MADem]

34. I got pulled over by a town cop on a state highway once...!

He gave me a ticket. He was a total ass, too--I could have probably gotten him for abuse of authority if I really wanted to make life miserable for the guy. He didn't fill the ticket out properly. I challenged it and got it dismissed. It was a pain to go challenge it but I wasn't about to pay--the guy lied about how fast I was going, too. It was like he was taking his sucky, worthless life out on me. I wasn't having that.

The few times I've been pulled over by MA staties they've let me slide. I don't care for the hood-pounding guys that look like they're on Weight Control Probation over at Logan--they have attitude and are assholes, almost uniformly. I've seen them berate little old ladies for not moving fast enough getting their shit out of cabs in the loading/unloading only area. But the guys out on the highway, I guess I've been lucky.

I'm not much of a speeder in my old age, but there are some places that are total speed traps--I hate when that happens!

[The Magistrate]

32. You May Have Sussed It, Sir

[Blue_Tires]

36. OR, maybe....

the agent was "left alone" with the suspect to apply some enhanced interrogation, the agent underestimated the amount of blowback he'd get, and things escalated from there??

I'm not saying one speculation is better than the other, but this whole thing is fuckin' weird...I don't care how dumb/ignorant/psychotic/roided up he may or may not have been; and I don't care if he just stepped off the immigrant ferry with no concept whatsoever on how LEOs operate in this country...He *HAD* to have known that singlehandedly attacking an armed FBI agent during an interview was as good as suicide...

[temmer]

35. Islamic group: Slain man was unarmed, shot by FBI agent 7 times

Source: Orlando Sentinel

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-05-29/news/os-fbi-orlando-investigation-20130529_1_fbi-agent-reniya-manukyan-agent-dave-couvertier

An Islamic group Wednesday called for a federal civil-rights investigation of last week's fatal shooting of an Orlando man by an FBI agent investigating his connection to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

And the Tampa director of that group said not only was 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev unarmed when he was shot by the agent May 22, he was hit seven times, including once in the head.

"We did confirm today with sources within the FBI that he was unarmed," CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Hassan Shibly told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday afternoon. Later, Shibly told reporters that CAIR has an "intermediary" who said the FBI told him Todashev was unarmed. Shibly did not identify the intermediary.

At a news conference Wednesday evening, Shibly showed what he said were photos of Todashev's body after the shooting. The photos were taken at an Orlando funeral home after the Orange-Osceola County Medical Examiner's office released the body to Todashev's next of kin, he said.