Uncle Who Lives In Md. Arranging Boston Bomb Suspect's Burial Rites
WORCESTER, Mass. (WJZ) -- Should the Boston bombing suspect be buried in the US? It's a controversy raging in Massachusetts and his uncle from Maryland is in the middle of all of it.
Kai Jackson has more.
The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev remains at a Worcester, Massachusetts, funeral home. His uncle from Maryland arrived Sunday to arrange burial but funeral director Peter Stefan says he has not yet found a cemetery willing to bury Tsarnaev.
"You do have to bury him. Cremation is not an option. If we have to get help from Washington, they are going to have to help," Stefan said.
People are protesting outside the funeral home holding Tsarnaev's remains. They're upset the 26-year-old could be buried on American soil.
"He just bombed us and now we're taking care of him? It's just not fair," said one.
Despite the outrage, his uncle says Tamerlan should be buried in Cambridge.
"He grew up here and last 10 years resided here in Cambridge so any contemplations that his body should be taken to his home country...they don't really go with reality," said Ruslan Tsarni.
But city officials in Cambridge announced the city's cemetery would reject his body for burial after other local cemeteries said they did not want his remains.
In the meantime, Ruslan Tsarni---of Montgomery County---said he and friends washed Tsarnaev's body and shrouded it in sheets, which is an Islamic custom before burial.
"These are my friends who feel for me and I felt comfortable to bring because I understand no one wants to associate their name with such evil events," said Tsarni.
Tamerlan's widow Katherine Russell is also under intense scrutiny. A search of her laptop found al-Qaeda's online magazine, Inspire, which offers bomb-making instructions.
