Suspect with links to Tsarnaevs killed during FBI questioning

(JTA) — A Chechen man being questioned for his connection to the Tsarnaev brothers and a triple homicide was killed after he attacked an FBI agent with a knife, according to reports.

Ibragim Todashev, who was living in Orlando, Fla., was being questioned at his apartment on the homicides, in which alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was suspected of being involved.

“The agent, two Mass­achusetts State Police troopers, and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing (Todashev) … when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual,” the FBI said, according to the Boston Herald. “The individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening 
injuries.”

Todashev entered the United States on a student visa, 
 and he was 
granted permanent resident status in February, the Herald reported, citing an official familiar with his case. He was an expert in mixed martial arts.

Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police several days after the marathon bombing, which he is accused of planning and carrying out with the help of his younger brother, Dzokhar, who is in custody and still hospitalized from his wounds.

The murders of Brendan Mess, Rafael Teken and Erik Weissman, committed in Waltham, Mass., are considered among the more violent acts in the Boston area in recent history.

They were found dead on the evening of Sept. 11, 2011 in an apartment several miles from the campus of Brandeis University. Their throats were slit and about seven pounds of marijuana was dumped on the bodies, as well as $5,000 in cash left behind.

Weissman and Teken were Jewish.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev knew Mess well but did not attend his funeral, despite once referring to him as his “best friend,” and participating in boxing and martial arts training together.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother has acknowledged that her son and Todashev were friends and saw each other frequently when both were in Boston.