Reni Manukyan, a 24-year-old assistant hotel-housekeeping manager who married Ibragim Todashev in July 2010, says agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived at her house in Atlanta and her mom’s house in Savannah, Ga., late Tuesday night, the same time they started questioning her husband at his home in Orlando.

An interesting detail that Ms Manukyan supposedly did not know about was that Todashev had a girlfriend named Tatiana Gruzdeva (this may be her Facebook page), who was arrested by ICE on May 16 and is currently in custody for immigration violations. Whether it was a coincidence or a pre-planned detention by the FBI is debatable.

Ms Manukyan, an Armenian who moved to the US in early 2006, met her husband in 2010 through a mutual friend in Boston. Even though she and Todashev were separated since last November they remained good friends. Up until Tuesday the two had been in regular contact and Ms Manukian even partly supported her husband financially through their joint bank account. The grieving widow last saw her husband last week when he came to visit her in Atlanta.

Judging by Ms Manukyan’s account in one of the popular European social networks she spent past few months in her home-country Armenia where she stayed from March 24 till April 6 visiting her brother and mother, who, allegedly serves in Armenian army. Later on Ms Manukyan went to Russia’s Volgograd to attend her good friend’s wedding and on April 22 she returned back to the US where she is now staying. On March 23 the widow posted a message on her wall saying: “killing my husband Ibragim was another prove that everything is set up about Tsarnaevs brothers as well”.

According to Ms Manukyan, FBI agents who came to question her primarily asked about alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev and her husband’s relationship with him. The widow claimed she was never asked about 2011 Waltham massacre in which three victims—25-year-old Brendan Mess, 31-year-old Erik Weissman and 37-year-old Raphael Teken—were found dead with their throats slit and bodies covered in marijuana and cash.

“They never, ever—in all the interviews that I had and all the interviews that he had—never did they mention anything about a murder,” said Ms Manukyan. “Everything was about the bombing and about him knowing Tamerlan. They would show me a picture of Tamerlan or Tamerlan’s wife or some other guys that I haven’t a clue who they are, but nothing about a murder—nothing ever.”

She also added that even if she was asked about 2011 incident she would have found it very difficult to believe that her husband was involved because he did not have any American associates. Instead, he was mainly friends with other immigrants who moved to the US from Russia. Ms Manukyan also said that given that Todashev did “not do drugs, he did not smoke, and didn’t even drink alcohol,” she finds it extremely daunting that her husband could have been accused of Waltham massacre.

Todashev’s close friend and former roommate Khusen Taramov also claimed Todashov was never questioned about the Waltham murders. “We told each other everything, everything,” Taramov said. “He never said anything about any murder and they never asked him anything about that. Just about the bombings and Tsarnaev.”

Ms Manukyan also claimed she did not believe Todashev could have pulled a knife on the law-enforcement agents. She asserted that her husband had never had a pocket knife and that during interrogation he would have been very far from the kitchen to grab a kitchen knife. The widow also noted that Todashev was recovering from a knee surgery and was still learning to walk properly which made it senseless for him to attack an FBI agent.

Todashev’s father, Abdulbaki Todashev, concurred that his son was disabled by knee surgery earlier this year.

As for Todashev’s relationship with Tsarnaev, Ms Manukyan said that the men were briefly acquainted because they shared some things in common: both came from one country, both were interested in martial arts, and both were living in the Boston area. “They had a chat because they were from the same country,” she said. “It was a small community. They all knew each other.” “I believe Tamerlan only called him once and asked him how he was doing after the surgery,” she claimed.

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Wife of man killed by FBI agent says he was never questioned about Waltham triple murder

By Wesley Lowery, Globe Staff

ORLANDO — The wife and best friend of the Chechen man shot and killed here by an FBI agent on Wednesday insisted today that authorities never questioned him, or them, prior to the fatal confrontation, about an unsolved triple slaying in Waltham, Mass., just outside of Boston.

Ibragim Todashev, 27, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot and killed after allegedly attacking an FBI agent who was interviewing him along with two Massachusetts State Police troopers.

Todashev acknowledged a role in the 2011 triple homicide when he attacked the agent early Wednesday with a blade, the Globe reported today. Todashev was not considered a suspect in the Marathon terror attacks, law enforcement officials told the Globe.

Todashev’s wife, Reni Manukyan, said her husband could not have been involved in the Waltham murders, and that the subject had never been brought up in FBI interviews.

Manukyan, 24, said today that Todashev told her that his previous interviews with law enforcement dealt with just two subjects: the Boston Marathon bombing and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Manukyan, who separated from Todashev in November, said that in her own interview with the FBI, conducted in Georgia where she lives, the unsolved murders were never mentioned.

“It never, ever came up,” she said, wiping tears from beneath her sunglasses. “Everything they asked was about the bombing.”

Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan issued a statement today defending the pace of the Waltham investigation, a statement that also made clear Ryan’s office believes it is constrained by ethics rules for lawyers from publicly discussing it.

“While we can not discuss details pertaining to the investigation, including evidence, suspects or witnesses, this office and its law enforcement partners have conducted a thorough, far-reaching investigation beginning in 2011 when this horrific crime occurred,’’ Ryan said in the statement. “This investigation has not concluded and is by no means closed.’’

Read Full Article and  Wach Video Here

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Image Source

FBI agent in charge says both bombs in black backpacks – photo is of black backpack – but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s is white!

Explosive News: Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s back-pack was photo-shopped out

The photo and the FBI lead investigator says that both bombs were in black backpacks  –  see below  — BUT TSARNAEV’S BACKPACK IN EVERY SHOT OF IT  IS WHITE — except the shot released by the FBI to identify the “suspects.”

Don’t underestimate the importance of this.

Will someone watching a lot of news please tell me how this is being explained?

Details and photos establishing this follow:

At 2:49 p.m. EDT (18:49 UTC), about two hours after the winner crossed the finish line,^[13] but with more than 5,700 runners yet to finish,^[14] two bombs detonated on Boylston Street near Copley Square about 180 yards (170 m) apart,^[15][16] just before the finish line.^[11] The first exploded outside Marathon Sports at 671–673 Boylston Street at 2:49:43 p.m. EDT.^[17] At the time of the first explosion, the race clock at the finish line showed 04:09:43.^[18] The second bomb was located one block farther west at 755 Boylston Street and exploded at 2:49:57 p.m. EDT,^[13][19] about 13 seconds after the first one.^[3] fill the sidewalk behind race barricades after the explosions blow metal pellets and nails into victims’ legs. Race tents become makeshift trauma units.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation, assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA);^[57] treating the bombings as a terrorist attack and naming two alleged perpetrators officially as suspects.^[42][58]

At the site of the explosion, investigators found shrapnel that included bits of metal, nails, and bearing balls,^[35] as well as black nylon pieces from a backpack.^[61] The lid of a Fagor-brand^[62] pressure cooker was found on a nearby rooftop.^[63] Investigators also found the remains of an electronic circuit board and wiring, possibly used as a timer of the bomb.^[35] Rep. Mike McCaul said “most likely, gunpowder was used in the devices”.^[64] All evidence was sent to the FBI Laboratory for analysis.^[65] Both of the improvised explosive devices are reported to be pressure cooker bombs.^[65][66]

Investigators believe the bombs were hidden in black nylon backpacks and housed inside sealable metal pots called pressure cookers. Pressure cooker bombs can help boost the power of relatively small devices by briefly constraining the blast. And when the cookers do explode, they can add large chunks of metal to the shrapnel spray. The IEDs have been popular with terrorists. Al Qaeda published a how-to recipe in an online Jihadi magazine. Several of the bombs were used in the 2006 attack on trains in Mumbai, India.

At a news conference late Tuesday afternoon in Boston, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Richard Deslauriers, indicated that the range of suspect and motive is “wide open,” and that the investigation is still in its “infancy.” He also mentioned that the FBI had received about 2,000 tips as of noon as agents looked for any photographic or video evidence from witnesses.

Deslauriers also said that both explosive devices appears to have been placed in a black nylon bag or backpack. A law enforcement source told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that investigators also found pieces of an electronic circuit board possibly indicating a timer was used in the detonation of the bomb.

Dick Eastman note:  The FBI released the ONLY picture in which you cannot tell that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is carrying a white backpack over his shoulder!!!!  Now we understand their selectivity and their reluctance to show more pictures to aid the manhunt.

Without an arrest three days after the blasts, investigators at about 6 p.m. publicly release images of the two alleged bombing suspects taken from a Lord & Taylor department store surveillance camera.

The man who became known as “Suspect No. 1″ is wearing a black baseball cap, and “Suspect No. 2″ has a white baseball cap on backwards and is carrying a black backpack. Authorities say they suspect the dark backpack was left in front of the Forum Restaurant on Boylston Street on Monday and then exploded — the second blast.
  Read Full Article Here

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Live Leak

Remember that scene in Scarface?

Remember that scene in Scarface?

Two members of the FBI’s elite counterterrorism unit died Friday while practicing how to quickly drop from a helicopter to a ship using a rope, the FBI announced Monday in a statement.

The statement gave few details regarding the deaths of Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw, other than to say the helicopter encountered unspecified difficulties and the agents fell a “significant distance.”

Last month, the team was involved in the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings……

Details are few at this point, but it’s being reported via several media outlets that two members of the special FBI Hostage Rescue Team (involved in arresting 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) have died after “falling from a helicopter” into the ocean.

The Hostage Rescue Team is “part of the Tactical Support Branch of the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group. It is based at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.” Source

The Virginian-Pilot reports on the May 17 deaths:

The statement gave few details regarding the deaths of Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw, other than to say the helicopter encountered unspecified difficulties and the agents fell a “significant distance.”

A law enforcement source told The Pilot the incident happened about 12 nautical miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The official blamed bad weather for the incident and said the agents – members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, based in Quantico – fell into the water. The official said he believed the agents died as a result of the impact rather than drowning.

Glenn McBride, a spokesman for the state medical examiner’s office, said it could be months before his staff can release a final cause and manner of death for the two agents. He said they must wait for the results of routine toxicology tests.

[...]

In interviews Monday, the founder of the Hostage Rescue Team and other former special agents called the unit “elite” while outlining the difficult training exercises members must endure.

“It’s the most rigorous training regiment in law enforcement, probably in the world,” said Danny Coulson, a former deputy assistant director of the FBI who started the team 30 years ago and served as its first commander. “They have to be able to do any mission, at any time.”

Among other things, members of the Hostage Rescue Team are trained to rappel from helicopters, scuba dive and use explosives to break down doors and walls. When needed, the team can deploy within four hours to anywhere in the U.S.

“It sounds risky, and it absolutely is,” Coulson said. “They have the same skill sets as SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force.”

In all, the team has responded to more than 850 incidents involving terrorism, violent crimes and foreign counterintelligence, according to the FBI’s website.

Last month, the team was involved in the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. And in February, it rescued a 5-year-old boy held hostage for six days in an underground bunker in Alabama.

“Whenever things go really wrong, the FBI calls in the Hostage Rescue Team. It’s the government’s 911,” Coulson said.