The LookoutPortraits of bombing suspects begin to emerge
A more complete picture of the two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday is coming to light.
The younger brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev—currently the focus of a manhunt in the Boston area—is a registered student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, according to the Associated Press. The school, located in the Boston area, was closed Friday, along with other schools in the region.
Dzhokhar had attended the prestigious public high school Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, known for famed graduates including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Patrick Ewing.
According to the New York Daily News, the younger brother was "the captain of the school's wrestling team, and a Greater Boston League all-star before he graduated in 2011."
He even received a $2,500 scholarship from the school.
People who know Dzhokhar seem mystified that he would be involved in such horrendous acts.
Older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout with police. He reportedly attended accounting classes part-time at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston for three semesters, from 2006 to 2008.
He was also a Golden Gloves boxer, and was remembered for training at a gym in Somerville, Mass.
A report from the New York Daily News notes there are photos of Tamerlan on a boxing website, where he admits he had problems fitting in to the U.S. "I don't have a single American friend. I just don't understand them," he said.
The young men’s uncle, who lives in Maryland, told ABC 7 that the two had lived in the U.S. for about a decade. He said he hadn’t been in touch with them since 2005, but called them “losers” who struggled to settle in to the country, "thereby just hating everyone."
The brothers’ aunt, Maret Tsarnaeva, who lives in Toronto, told the CBC that she can’t believe the accusations are true. "I know these two nephews—smart boys, good boys—they have no motive for that. ... It's just not the case, it cannot be true."
The host of Boston's WBUR radio show "Here and Now," Robin Young, knew the suspect, who was a friend of her nephew's. She said she even hosted him along with her nephew at a prom party in 2011. Her nephew, who attended high school with Dzhokhar, was interviewed on the show, and he called the suspect a “student-athlete.”
He added, “This is nothing that we’d even expect.”
A report from Reuters looked at what appears to be the younger brother’s account on a Russian-language social media site. On it, he identifies himself as a 2011 graduate of Cambridge Rindge and Latin.
In addition, the report states:
It says he went to primary school in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, a province in Russia that borders Chechnya, and lists his languages as English, Russian and Chechen.
His "World view" is listed as "Islam" and his "Personal priority" is "career and money."
The page also includes “links to pages calling for independence for Chechnya, a region of Russia that lost its bid for secession after two wars in the 1990s.”
CNN has reported that there may be a Twitter account associated with the younger suspect, @J_Tsar.
