Aunt of suspected bombers says they’re ‘angels’; airs conspiracy theories

An aunt of Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said she doesn't believe her nephews could be behind the attacks.

“I know them as angels,” Maret Tsarnaev told the National Post in Toronto. “I’m suspicious that this was staged.”

In a press conference later aired by CNN, she reiterated her suspicions and said she has doubts about the photos released by the FBI that show her nephews at the scene of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. She also said she has doubts about the story behind the 9-11 attacks. The suspects' father told CNN Friday that he believed they were "framed."

The message was starkly different from that delivered by one of the brothers' uncles, who said in a press conference on Friday afternoon that the two men had brought shame upon their family. Ruslan Tsarni speculated that his nephews were "losers" who were angry that they didn't fit in, though he said he had not been in touch with the family for years.

Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with authorities early Friday morning, while Dzhokhar fled the scene on foot.