Tsarnaev friend says he owned gun used to kill MIT police officer
BOSTON -- A close friend of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev testified Tuesday that Tsarnaev borrowed a gun from him two months before the 2013 attack and "kept coming up with excuses" for not returning it.
Prosecutors have identified the Ruger handgun as the gun used by Tsarnaev and his brother to kill a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer as they attempted to flee the area three days after the bombings.
Stephen Silva testified that several weeks after he first showed Tsarnaev the gun, Tsarnaev asked if could "potentially borrow" it.
"He said he wanted to rip (rob) some kids from URI," Silva said, apparently a reference to the University of Rhode Island.
Silva said that after a few weeks, he asked Tsarnaev for the gun back, but Tsarnaev repeatedly made up excuses for why he didn't return the gun.
The bombing killed three people and injured more than 260 others. Tsarnaev, 21, faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
Silva, who was charged last year with gun possession and drug charges, said Tuesday he was testifying against Tsarnaev as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. He acknowledged that he is hoping prosecutors will recommend a sentence below five years.
Silva appeared uncomfortable, sighing at times as he testified against the man he described as a close friend he had known since they met in the eighth grade. Tsarnaev, seated at a table with his attorneys about 12 feet away from Silva, gave him several long looks during his testimony.
During opening statements in the trial, Tsarnaev's lawyer admitted that he participated in the bombings, but said his older brother, Tamerlan, was the mastermind and recruited him to help. His lawyer said it was Tamerlan who used the gun to shoot MIT police Officer Sean Collier.
But prosecutors, through Silva's testimony, established that Tsarnaev is the one who obtained the gun used in Collier's killing.
During cross-examination, Tsarnaev's lawyer suggested again that Tamerlan was a domineering older brother and had a powerful influence over Dzhokhar. Attorney Miriam Conrad asked Silva if he knew why Dzhokhar had never introduced him to his brother.
"Did he tell you 'You don't want to meet my brother'?" Conrad asked.
"Yes," replied Silva. "He said his brother was very strict... very opinionated, and that since I wasn't a Muslim, you know, he might give me a little (expletive) for that."
Prosecutors say the Tsarnaevs committed the bombings to retaliate against the U.S. for wars in Muslim countries.
Silva recalled a discussion about American foreign policy during a high school class he had with Dzhokhar. Silva said Dzhokhar said U.S. foreign policy "tends sometimes to be a little hostile toward the Middle East," persecutes Muslims and tries to "take over people's culture."
Under questioning from Tsarnaev's lawyer, Silva said he didn't recall Tsarnaev ever making strong anti-American statements and had posted on Twitter in November 2012 that he was celebrating the re-election of President Barack Obama.
Earlier Tuesday, the man who found Tsarnaev hiding in his boat in Watertown testified, CBS Boston reported.
David Henneberry told the court that after a shelter-in-place order was lifted the evening of April 19, 2013, he went into his backyard to check on his boat because the winter shrink wrap covering it was ripped.
Henneberry testified he found blood on the boat and a body inside, then ran inside and called 911. That discovery would eventually end the manhunt for Tsarnaev.