Tsarnaev's acquaintance shot by FBI officer was not Islamist, pursued sports career - widow
MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - Ibragim Todashev, an acquaintance of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot by an FBI officer during interrogation, was not interested in politics but dreamed of a sports career, says Todashev's widow, Rene Manukian.
"We lived our own life. He was in for sports. He dreamed of MMA and wanted to move up the career ladder. It was me who worked and who maintained us. He was in for fights. He was concentrated on fights. He was all about the gym and his daily training. He could not have worked physically. It was okay with me," Manukian said.
Todashev has never been a religious fanatic. "He has never been an Islam fanatic. He observed everything, but there was no fanaticism or craziness in this," she said.
Manukian says she knew nothing about a triple murder of which her husband was reportedly suspected. "Never heard anything about this. Even when this happened in 2011, I didn't hear about this on TV or elsewhere, and my husband didn't tell me anything. Any time he or I were questioned - and I have been questioned more than once - there was not a single question about this murder. All questions were about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as he knew him," she said.
Todashev and Tsarnaev have never been close friends, Manukian said. "They knew each other, because there is a small Chechen community in America. This is okay that they all know each other. But this doesn't mean that they were friends. When we married in 2010, he left Boston. He knew him, as they went to the same gym. But everyone in the gym knows that they never were friends. They never conversed. Only 'hello' and 'how are you'," she said.
It was reported earlier with reference to U.S. authorities that Todashev, 27, attacked an FBI officer while being questioned and was shot and killed.
NBC said Todashev was not suspected of involvement in the Boston Marathon bombings but was questioned as a person whom Tamerlan Tsarnaev had known.
Investigators also probed Todashev's possible involvement in a triple murder in Massachusetts in 2011.
Brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are suspected of committing the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013, which killed three and injured more than 200 others. Dzhokhar was later detained and Tamerlan received fatal gunshot wounds and died.