Tsarnaev friend killed in Orlando: FBI shot and killed a man in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday morning whom they had previously questioned concerning his relationship to late Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
A friend of the the man told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13, that the FBI had been monitoring his group of Chechnyan friends following the bombing at the Boston Marathon.
“One day they started questioning us … after they found out the bombers were Chechnyans,” Khusen Taramov told News 13. “They started following us, watching us.”
Ibragim Todashev, 26, had spent some time with Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston, Taramov said. The FBI did not immediately respond to Epoch Times inquiries to confirm the identity of the man who was shot as Todashev or to confirm other details of the media reports.
An FBI spokesman told Orlando television stations that their agent was conducting official duties when the shooting occurred. No further details were released, but the agency says an update is expected later Wednesday.
Todashev was preparing to return to Chechnya, a plan the FBI opposed, said Tamarov. But, Todashev had decided to stay in Orlando after all, according to Tamarov.
ABC News reports that Todashev and Tsarnaev were both mixed martial arts fighters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UPDATE: Dave Couvertier, the FBI’s Tampa Field Office spokesman sent The Epoch Times a statement Wednesday morning:
“The FBI is currently reviewing a shooting incident involving an FBI Special Agent. Based on preliminary information, the incident occurred in Orlando, Florida during the early morning hours of May 22, 2013. The agent along with two Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual. During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries. As this incident is under review, we have no further details at this time.”
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