Ibragim Todashev, who was shot and killed by FBI agents a month after the Boston marathon bombings on April 15, named Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the slain Boston bomber suspect, in the murder of three men in Waltham, Massachusetts in 2011, Reuters reported.
Todashev, who was 27 when he was killed, was reportedly an acquaintance of Tsarnaev during the bombings investigations, and practiced mixed-martial arts with Tsarnaev, Reuters reported.
Todashev was killed on May 22 after a four-hour long interview in regards to his link to Tsarnaev with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts State Troopers in his Orlando home after allegedly becoming violent, Reuters reported.
Todashev, who was a Chechen immigrant like Tsarnaev, told investigators that Tsarnaev allegedly participated in the murder of three men who were found stabbed to death in September 2011 in a Waltham apartment, according to Reuters. Authorities believe it may have been drug related.
The information about the Waltham murders was released when prosecutors filed to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger brother suspected in the Boston bombings, from getting information related to the case from authorities, like investigative documents, the Associated Press reported.
Dzhokhar, 20, is in custody on federal charges related to the marathon bombings that carry the death sentence, Reuters reported. Dzokhar's lawyers are requesting that the government release information about the case.
According to the AP, prosecutors said "the government had already disclosed to Tsarnaev that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide." Prosecutors added that because the investigation in the Waltham murders is on-going they cannot release any documents.
"Any benefit to Tsarnaev of knowing more about the precise 'nature and extent' of his brother's involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding," prosecutors wrote in the filed report, according to the AP.
Prosecutors added Tsarnaev "is not entitled" to the information, and information on his brothers criminal history will only be relevant at a future hearing, the AP reported.
