The family of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spoke out this morning as authorities continue the intense manhunt for Dzhokhar. The pair’s father, Anzort Tsarnaev, expressed disbelief and shock at the accusations against his sons, and insisted they are both “very good kids.”
"They never could have done this. Never, ever, ever!" he told People magazine in a phone interview.
Anzort, who lives in Russia, says he talked to Tamerlan, 26, and Dzhokhar, 19, on Thursday because he was worried about Monday’s bombings. “I talked to my sons yesterday, both of them. We talked about the bombing. I was worried about them, they said they were okay,” he revealed.
Later that day the FBI identified the pair as suspects of the bombings. Authorities caught up with Tamerlan and Dzhokhar after they robbed a 7/11 convenience store, killed an MIT security officer and hijacked a car. A shootout ensued and Tamerlan was killed. Dzhokhar escaped on foot and remains at large.
"I feel terrible! Why they kill my son? Something wrong! My sons never do bombing," Anzort told People.
"I am very depressed," he added. "How am I going to live? Never I think in my mind this happen. My sons hate people who do bombs, they hate terrorists. Why they kill my son? And where is my other son? They have time to catch my other son, not kill."
Anzort’s brother, Ruslan Tzami, also spoke to People magazine. "They are from a hard-working family who ran away from Chechnya. A good family,” said Tzami, who lives in Maryland.
"This is terrible. I have no sympathy for them. I hate them – they murdered people!" he said.
According to reports, the brothers lived in Kazakhstan after leaving Chechnya when they were young children. They moved to the United States with family members around 2002 or 2003. Tamerlan, who hoped to become an engineer, had previously attended Bunker Hill Community College. Dzhokhar, who reportedly wanted to be a doctor, attended Cambridge Rindge & Latin public high school.
In video footage of the Boston Marathon, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar are seen near the finish line where one of the bombs exploded. Tamerlan is shown wearing a dark hat, sunglasses and a backpack while Dzhokhar is show wearing a white hat, a dark coat and a backpack. The explosions killed 3 people, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounded more than 170 others.
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