Suspect Throat Injury: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Reportedly Attempted Suicide, Firing Gun in Mouth
Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may have intentionally fired his gun in his mouth in an attempted suicide Friday evening as police closed in, which would explain his reported throat injury and why he is unable to currently speak.
CBS News correspondent John Miller reported that there appears to be a bullet wound in the back of Tsarnaev's neck, in addition to the bullet wound in his leg. "But [investigators are] saying that wound to the back of the neck is very possibly a suicide attempt. They say it appears from the wound that he might have stuck a gun in his mouth, and fired and actually just went out the back of his neck without killing him."
Tsarnaev, 19, is said to be in serious condition and is being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston under heavy guard. He may be charged as soon as Sunday, with a judge coming to his hospital room, according to CNN. Possible charges the suspect #2 faces include federal terrorism and state murder.
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Earlier Saturday, it was unknown that Tsarnaev suffered a throat injury, moreover that he may have attempted suicide. It was only reported that he was in serious condition after being captured Friday evening bleeding profusely.
The Boston bombing suspect was found hiding in a boat in a Watertown, Mass., resident's backyard, after about five days of police scouring the Boston metro area to find those responsible for the coordinated bombings during the Boston Marathon on Monday, which killed three people, including an 8-year-old, and injured more than 170 people.
Authorities brought Tsarnaev to the hospital immediately after capturing him Friday night at around 8:40 p.m. ET to be treated. Although there are many questions that authorities want to ask the suspect, he is currently unable to speak and answer but is said to be able to understand what is said to him.
His older brother and accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed in a shooting confrontation on Friday and died in the hospital from his wounds. Reportedly the younger Tsarnaev drove their stolen Mercedes during the shootout and ran over his brother in his effort to escape the scene.
Those who know the Tsarnaev brothers and intelligence experts are questioning whether Tamerlan had influenced his younger brother to carry out the bombing. Analysis of Tamerlan's YouTube page found that he featured jihadi videos that included a video of Abd al-Hamid al-Juhani, an assistant to an al Qaida scholar in Chechnya, and CNN found a screen grab of a video of members of the powerful militant Islamist group Imarat Kavkaz in the north Caucasus region on his YouTube page.
Tamerlan had come under suspicion in 2011 for possibly being connected to terrorist activity, and the FBI had interrogated him and investigated his background at the request of the Russian government. However, the FBI found nothing troubling and closed the case. Authorities are currently interested in knowing if Tamerlan was radicalized during a 6-month trip starting in January 2012 when he went to Russia, and might have been trained by Chechen separatist. The Tsarnaev brothers are ethnic Chechen and moved and lived in the United States for about the last 10 years.
Dzhokhar, the only surviving suspect, is said to be "intubated and sedated," according to CNN, with authorities hoping he can speak soon and explain if they were acting alone or took orders from another group, why they did it, among other questions.
