Prosecutor: No decision made in shooting of Boston bomb suspect's friend
A Florida prosecutor said Friday he has made no decision regarding any criminal wrongdoing stemming from an FBI agent's fatal shooting of a Chechen man as he was being questioned about a Boston Marathon bombing suspect - contradicting earlier reports that said he had cleared the agent of any criminal wrongdoing.
The Washington Post first reported that State Attorney Jeff Ashton won't bring charges against the FBI agent who fatally shot Ibragim Todashev. Anonymous officials also told the Associated Press that the agent had been cleared. However, Ashton released a statement saying a final decision would not be made until Monday.
"The release of purported information is inaccurate and unfair to Mr. Todashev's surviving family and the police officers involved in the incident and their families," Ashton said in a statement. "It also contravenes and frustrates all of the efforts to date by employees of the FBI, DOJ and this office for the orderly and safe release of information."
Earlier, a law enforcement official told CBS News that an FBI internal review also cleared the agent. The official said that the Justice Department, which is also investigating the incident, received a recommendation in this case from the FBI and will release its finding on Tuesday. The DOJ's findings are expected to track with that of the FBI.
Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was killed in Orlando in May while FBI agents and Massachusetts state troopers questioned him about his friendship with suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Officials originally said Todashev lunged at an agent with a knife while he was being questioned. They later said it was no longer clear what happened.
Federal prosecutors have said in court filings that Todashev named Tsarnaev as a participant in an earlier triple homicide in Massachusetts. The filings were made in the case against Tsarnaev's brother, surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
According to the filings, Todashev told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a triple slaying in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011.
In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana. One of the victims was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The filing was prosecutors' attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings.
Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and 16 other charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a gunbattle with police as authorities closed in on the brothers several days after the bombings.