The Boston Marathon bombing suspect killed in a shootout with police in April will soon be released from a medical examiner’s office and buried in a Muslim ceremony.
The uncle of the brothers accused of carrying out the bombing said he contacted a mosque to arrange a funeral for Tamerlan Tsarnaev . Tamerlan’s body had been at the medical examiner’s office in Massachusetts since being killed during a rolling gun battle with police.
The office released the body of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, but it had not been claimed by his widow, Katherine Russell. This week Russell gave family members permission to claim the body.
“Of course, family members will take possession of the body,” uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. “We’ll do it. We will do it. A family is a family.”
Muslims are customarily buried shortly after they die, but Tamerlan’s body remained in the medical examiner’s office until Russell allowed it to be claimed .
Russell has taken steps to distance herself from Tamerlan. Shortly after he was identified as a suspect and killed, Russell’s family released a statement saying they “never really knew” Tamerlan. Russell also gone back to using her maiden name.
When the body of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect is released to his family the medical examiner’s office will also release the cause of death. Police said the 26-year-old Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition while battling police in Watertown, and was subsequently run over by his brother Dzhokhar as he escaped in an SUV.
Tamerlan ‘s body was dragged underneath the vehicle for some ways, police said.
Meanwhile his brother Dzhokhar sits in a federal medical prison awaiting his next court date. The 19-year-old Dzhokhar has been charged with using a “weapon of mass destruction” and could face the death penalty if convicted.
There was no word yet on where and when the Boston Marathon bombing suspect would be buried.
