A Florida prosecutor has cleared an FBI agent of any criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a Chechen man as he was being questioned about a Boston Marathon bombing suspect, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Friday, according to Reuters.
State Attorney Jeff Ashton won't bring charges against the agent who shot Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, Reuters reported.
The circumstances surrounding Todashev's death have remained mysterious: Officials initially said the man had lunged at an agent with a knife while FBI agents and Massachusetts state troopers were questioning him about his friendship with suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Later, they said it was no longer clear what happened, according to Reuters.
Todashev's father, Abdul-Baki Todashev, insisted during a May news conference that his son was unarmed and has maintained his son's innocence, Reuters reported.
Federal prosecutors have said in court filings that Todashev named Tsarnaev as a participant in an earlier triple homicide in Massachusetts, according to Reuters. The filings were made in the case against Tsarnaev's brother, surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
According to the filings, Todashev told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a triple slaying in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011, Reuters reported.
In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana, according to Reuters. One of the victims was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The filing was prosecutors' attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings, Reuters reported.
Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15, according to Reuters. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and 16 other charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty, Reuters reported.
