Boston Suspect's Dad: If He Dies, Expect Hell

But Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's father urges son to surrender
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2013 9:50 AM CDT
Updated Apr 19, 2013 4:20 PM CDT

The father of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev didn't have reassuring words when he spoke to ABC News from his Russian home today, warning that "all hell would break loose" if his son died. "If they kill my second child, I will know that it is an inside job, a hit job. The police are to blame," Anzor Tsarnaev said. "Someone, some organization, is out to get them." He says his sons are innocent, but still urged Dzhokar to surrender without a fight: "Give up. Give up. You have a bright future ahead of you. Come home to Russia." Dzhokhar's brother Tamerlan reportedly died in an overnight gunfight with police. In a separate emotional interview with People, a "screaming and yelling" Anzor insisted his sons "hated guns" and "hate terrorists."

Anzor said he was worried about his sons when he heard about the bombing Monday, and spoke to them by phone. They told him, "Everything is good, Daddy. Everything is very good." In an earlier interview with the AP, he described Dzhokar as "a true angel."

  • Dzhokhar's uncle is also urging him to turn himself in. Ruslan Tsarni gave a media briefing outside his home in Maryland, where he was asked what he would say to his nephew. "I would say Dzhokar, if you are alive, turn yourself!" he bellowed, "and ask forgiveness from the victims, from the injured, and from those who left! Ask forgiveness from these people! ... He put a shame on our family! He put a shame on the entire Chechnyan ethnicity!"
  • The brothers' aunt, speaking in Toronto, suggested that images of them at the marathon had been doctored in order to frame them, reports Business Insider. "I don't trust the FBI," said Maret Tsarnaeva. "Show me the evidence." (See video of her remarks in the gallery.)
  • Media outlets have been tracking down former friends and acquaintances of the brothers, and one of them echoed the "angel" description to CNN, calling Dzhokhar "a walking angel" who "smokes a little weed," Vanity Fair reports.
Click for more on the brothers. (More Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stories.)

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