A Chechen man who was shot and killed by an FBI agent last week during an interview about his connections with bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was unarmed, according to the Washington Post.
The FBI also said that Ibragim Todashev had earlier confessed involvement in an unsolved triple murder in Waltham that police say could lead back to Tsarnaev. The Waltham murder case, meanwhile, has transformed what had been a sleepy neighborhood into a media spectacle for some.
In a statement about the shooting of Ibragim Todashev, which was issued on the day of the incident, the FBI said that authorities were interviewing “an individual” in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a “violent confrontation was initiated by the individual.” Initial reports citing anonymous law-enforcement sources provided conflicting accounts of what happened.
On the sidewalk outside of 12 Harding Ave — just off Main — you will not find a makeshift memorial: no flowers, no cards or stuffed animals, no Americans flags or any other kind of traditional marker commemorating innocence.
But the families of the three men murdered on the second floor apartment of this building were innocent in the eyes of their families, even though law enforcement officials initially described the triple homicide as “drug related;” a term that has the effect of stripping innocence from many crimes.
Now the TV trucks are back and reporters are being greeted on this street by either silence or exasperation. I’m met by a would-be guard dog:
“I wouldn’t touch him,” a man says. “He’s rather deceiving.”
“He looks cute, but it’s an illusion?” I reply.
“Yeah.”
These folks live just to the left of 12 Harding.
“We’ve been hounded now, up and down the street,” a woman said. “It was like that when the murders happened years ago, and now that there is speculation we have people coming back and forth up the street and a lot of people asking questions but we have no idea, We have no answers. And it’s pretty disturbing because that whole tragedy that happened years ago, it was horrific.”
And her husband laments how this has impacted this once quiet dead end street.
“Nobody knows this street is here, and that’s why we liked it for a long time,” the man said laughing. “Now everybody knows it’s here.”
And what started as a drip-drip of reporters making their way to Harding Ave has become a cascade in recent days with news that a man shot dead in Florida may be a key link to breaking this unsolved case.
The FBI initially stated that Ibragim Todashev was killed by one of its agents last week after attacking the agent in Orlando. The Washington Post is now reporting that the suspect was unarmed and was being questioned about the Watham murder and his connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Todashev who lived in Cambridge at one time allegedly confessed to taking part in the Waltham murder and reportedly implicated Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the triple homicide. Todashev, a mixed martial artist who, like Tsarnaev, was of Chechen-Russian descent is not suspected of involvement in the Marathon Bombing itself. The Middlesex District Attorney and the FBI say the Waltham murder case is still open and unresolved, but investigators — as WGBH reported earlier have found forensic evidence in the residence that connects to Tsarnaev.
News of a possible break in this mysterious case has left some on Harding Ave hopeful.
The owner of the house, Charles Paquette, has had the investigation hanging over his head for a while now, both as a landlord and as a resident of this area.
“Well, if these two kids are the ones that committed this and I believe they are then I’m happy that the family gets closure,” Paquette said. “My prayers are continually with the family.”
These are several families trying to get closure. Does it help Paquette own sense of peace?
“It would help the case gets solved and the whole thing goes away,” he said. “But it mostly about the families that lost their children.”
The tenant who rented the apartment where the triple homicide occurred also desperately wants this case solved. Her doorbell rings day and night, and today she has posted a sign on the front door for reporters:
“To whom it may concern, I’ve lived at 12 Harding Ave for one year and I have no new information regarding the former tenants,” the note reads. “I ask that you please respect my privacy and do not ring my doorbell, knock on my door or film my home. Thank you.”
But as I step off the porch, another TV truck makes a right turn onto Harding Street and the inquiries begin again.
