DARTMOUTH — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spent an apparently normal day Wednesday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he was a sophomore, according to a school official, working out in the gym, then sleeping in his dorm room that night, while law enforcement officials frantically scanned photos trying to identify the men who planted deadly bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Card swipes told officials that Tsarnaev, described as a good and typical student who played intramural soccer, was on campus Wednesday, but it was not clear if he had been there earlier in the week.
A student, who did not want to be identified, also said she saw Tsarnaev at a party on Wednesday night that was attended by some of his soccer friends.
“He was just relaxed,” she said.
Tsarnaev, 19, was the subject of an intense manhunt until he was cornered and captured in a backyard in Watertown on Friday evening. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed early Friday morning in a shootout with police.
Rolon said she finds it impossible to believe he was involved in any zealous religious or political cause, or would turn to violence.
“I think he’s Muslim, but not so religious,” she said. “He’s a normal city kid.”
She also said that Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen who came to the United States with his family from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, did not talk about Russian or international politics.
“He never said anything about Russia versus the United States,” she said.
She said Tsarnaev dressed typically in sweaters and jeans and fit in easily on campus. He spoke English with barely a trace of an accent. He had a roommate, she said, but she declined to give the student’s name. Rolon said she never met his family.
Chris Baratta, 22, a senior nursing student from Acton, lives across the street from campus. He played intramural soccer against Tsarnaev last year, but said nothing unusual stood out about him.
“You just sign up and make your own team, and whoever plays, plays,” he said.
He said friends of his smoked marijuana with Tsarnaev, but nothing stood out about the student.
(Boston Globe)
MSNBC lady: Can you tell what that thing in the foreground is?
