• 3 pals of Boston Marathon bombing suspect charged with coverup

     

    VKontakt

    Azamat Tazhayakov (left), Dias Kadyrbayev, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (right) in a photo taken in Times Square. The picture, which appeared on Tsarnaev's page on VKontakt, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, is believed to be from November 2012.

    By Pete Williams, Richard Esposito, Michael Isikoff and Tracy Connor, NBC News

    Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were accused Wednesday of removing evidence from his dorm room as new details about the case emerged in court papers.

    Criminal complaints against the trio revealed that Tsarnaev cut his long hair after the April 15 attack but before the FBI released his photo and that he allegedly told friends a month earlier that he knew “how to make a bomb.”

    The court papers also suggest that the 19-year-old suspect was practically blasé when one of the friends texted to say he looked like the man in the FBI photos of the bomb suspect.

    Among his replies: ‘lol,” according to the complaints.

    Attorneys for the three suspects that were arrested for allegedly assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing maintain their clients' innocence and say that they were shocked by the attack.

    The complaints were filed against Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, who were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice, and Robel Phillipos, who was charged with making false statements.

    The three friends, who are all 19-years-old, allegedly went to Tsarnaev’s dorm room after the FBI photos came out April 18 and left with a backpack that contained fireworks tubes that had been emptied of their explosive powder, according to the documents.

    The backpack was later tossed in the garbage, though the suspects’ gave conflicting statement about whether that happened before or after Tsarnaev had been publicly named as the bombing suspect following a night of bloody mayhem.

    As the allegations against them were unveiled, Tsarnaev’s three friends appeared in Boston Federal Court Wednesday afternoon. None of the charges suggested they had prior knowledge of the dual bombings that killed three and wounded more than 200 near the finish line of the race.

    FBI

    This May 1, 2013 FBI handout image released in a criminal complaint, shows fireworks tubes found in a backpack that was disposed of by friends of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

    Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev — who are from Kazakhstan and were detained more than a week ago on immigration charges — did not seek bail and were ordered held until a May 14 hearing.

    Phillipos is being held until a detention hearing Monday. As he was read his rights, Federal Judge Marianne Bowler admonished him, saying, “I suggest you pay attention to me rather than looking down.”

    Outside the courthouse, Harlan Protass, a lawyer for Tazhayakov, said his client “has cooperated fully with the authorities and looks forward to the truth coming out in this case.”

    Robert Stahl, a lawyer for Kadyrbayev, said the college sophomore "absolutely denies" allegations of a coverup and was “shocked and horrified” by the bombing. He said his client told investigators about ditching the items from the dorm room but “did not know those items were involved in a bombing.” 

    Although only Tazhayakov is currently enrolled, all three men knew Tsarnaev from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

    The narrative outlined in the court papers begins about a month ago when, according to Tazhayakov,  Tsarnaev told him and Kadyrbayev that he "knew how to make a bomb.”

    Kadyrbayev last saw Tsarnaev on April 17, two days after the bombing, at his dorm room and noticed that he had given himself a short haircut. They chatted outside the dorm, the complaint said.

    Little more than 24 hours later, the FBI released photos and video of two men wanted in the bombing. The suspects were not yet identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan.

    At least two of the three friends thought one of the men in the pictures looked like Tsarnaev, and Kadyrbayev texted him to say so, the FBI said.

    YouTube

    This still image is taken from a YouTube video made by Robel Phillipos.

    Tsarnaev fired off a flurry of texts, including, "lol," "you better not text me" and "come to my room and take whatever you want," the court papers said.

    The trio then met at Tsarnaev's dorm room, where they learned he had already left and were let in by his roommate.

    After watching a movie, they spotted a dark backpack containing seven red tubes of fireworks that had been emptied, and Kadyrbayev decided to take it, according to one of the complaints.

    They also took a laptop – now turned over to the FBI, according to Kadyrbayev's attorney — because they didn't want to arouse the roommate's suspicions about the backpack, the document said.

    After leaving the dorm, the three friends "started to freak out" because they realized Tsarnaev was wanted in the bombing, Phillipos said, according to the feds.

    They then "collectively decided to throw the backpack and fireworks into the trash because they did not want Tsarnaev to get in trouble," Kadyrbayev told agents, according to the complaint.

    Kadyrbayev allegedly put the items in a large trash bag and tossed it into a dumpster near his off-campus apartment.

    The suspects' statements clashed on whether that happened the night of the April 18, before Tsarnaev was formally identified as the accused bomber, or the morning after – an important point if their defense is that they had no idea the items could be evidence.

    Tsarnaev never returned to his dorm room. Authorities say that after the FBI put their pictures out, he and Tamerlan executed a campus police officer, stole a car at gunpoint and led police on a wild chase.

    It ended with Tamerlan dead after a firefight and Dzhokhar captured in a boat in a Watertown, Mass., backyard. Dzhokhar, who was wounded, has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.

    Law enforcement officials have told NBC News that Dzhokhar told them during questioning he and his brother wanted to defend Islam after the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Investigators have been trying to determine if pair – ethnic Chechens who had lived in the U.S. for more than a decade — they received assistance from anyone else in the U.S. or abroad.

    NBC News' James Novogrod contributed to this report

     

    Related:

    Slideshow: Boston bombings

    /

    Heightened security, empty streets, and memorials mark the the days after the Boston Marathon bombings.

    Launch slideshow

    This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 6:36 PM EDT

  • Transit officer wounded in Boston shootout: MIT cop saved my life

    MBTA via Reuters

    MBTA transit police officer Richard Donohue Jr. Is shown with his wife Kim, in this handout photo from May 1. Donohue is recovering from injuries suffered in a shootout with two Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

    By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A transit police officer wounded in a firefight with suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings made his first public statements Wednesday, crediting a slain MIT officer for saving his life, and revealing that a bullet from the shootout will remain lodged in his leg.

    In a message posted on the MBTA Transit Police website, Richard "Dic" Donohue thanked those involved in his recovery.

    “I am told that when I arrived at the hospital I had almost no blood and no pulse,” he wrote, “and the team of medical experts at Mount Auburn miraculously brought me back to life. I am now awake, moving around, talking, and telling jokes (much to my wife's dismay).”

    Donohue, 33, arrived at the scene soon after MIT campus police officer Sean Collier was shot in Cambridge, Mass. Collier was shot multiple times in his squad car, police say.

    Donahue credited Collier, who later died in the hospital, for saving his life.

    “There is not a single day we are not thinking or speaking of Sean,” Donohue wrote. “And we are certain Sean was watching over me and assisted in saving my life. He could not save himself that night, but Sean could save me.”

    Donohue said he still has a long way to go in his recovery but said he is able to briefly move around with the aid of a walker.

    “The bullet will remain in my leg as it is not obstructing anything or causing any pain,” he said. “However my wife has informed me that the bullet will ultimately cause her the most pain, as I will be using it to get out of things such as mowing the lawn, doing laundry, and painting the deck. “

    Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, one of the suspects in the marathon bombings and the killing of Collier, died in a firefight with officers in Watertown, Mass. His brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is charged with federal terrorism charges for the April 15 marathon bombings.

    Related:

     

  • From 'lol' to bomb-making boasts, new details in Boston Marathon court papers

    A photo attached to the criminal complaint shows fireworks recovered from a backpack.

    Criminal complaints against three college friends of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev contain new details about the case:

    •  A month before the April 15 attack on the Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told college friends Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev over a meal that he "knew how to make a bomb," Tazhayakov said.
    •  When Kadyrbaev texted Tsarnaev on April 18 to say that he looked like one of the suspects in video just released by the FBI, the 19-year-old responded with messages including: "lol," "you better not text me" and "come to my room and take whatever you want."
    •  Among the items Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev and Robel Phillipos say they found in Tsarnaev's dorm room was Vaseline, which Kadyrbayev said he believed was used to "make bombs."
    •  At a New Bedford, Mass., landfill, the FBI recovered the backpack containing the fireworks, the Vaseline and an assignment sheet from a University of Massachusetts class Tsarnaev was taking.

     

  • Bone marrow donor case involving fashion models settled

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    BOSTON -- Massachusetts officials have announced an agreement that requires a bone marrow registry and medical laboratory agency that hired fashion models in short skirts to recruit donors to pay $520,000.

    Attorney General Martha Coakley said Caitlin Raymond International Registry and UMass Memorial Health Ventures Inc. engaged in improper marketing by paying models to attract potential donors at malls, festivals and sporting venues.

    A judgment filed in court by Coakley on Thursday alleges that they also improperly waived copayments and deductible amounts for the testing of potential donors.

    “Efforts to increase bone marrow donor registration cannot be built on unfair and deceptive practices that increase the cost of health care for all of us,” Coakley said in a statement. “No health care provider should be allowed to use gimmicks and free gifts to increase the volume of services covered by health plans for their own financial gain.”

    The Boston Globe reported that UMass Memorial had provided financial perks to those who enlisted the most donors with insurance.

    Under the agreement, they will pay restitution to Massachusetts consumers for out-of-pocket payments made for donor testing. They will also pay the state $500,000 for initiatives to improve health care services and to combat unlawful marketing practices.

    Officials in New Hampshire, where the models were also used, planned a news conference Thursday afternoon.

    “We accept full responsibility for the mistakes and errors in judgment that were made. We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the Massachusetts Attorney General that validates the important work of the Caitlin Raymond International Registry,” said John G. O'Brien, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News