The New York Times quotes an unnamed “official,” who surely is only bothering to tell the American people what was done in their name because Todashev’s father released pictures of his son’s bullet-riddled corpse.
According to the Times’ story, written by Michael S. Schmidt and Ellen Barry,
Mr. Todashev, according to the F.B.I., confessed to his involvement in the deaths and implicated Mr. Tsarnaev. He then started to write a statement admitting his involvement while sitting at a table across from the agent and one of the detectives when the agent briefly looked away, the official said. At that moment, Mr. Todashev picked up the table and threw it at the agent, knocking him to the ground.
While trying to stand up, the agent, who suffered a wound to his face from the table that required stitches, drew his gun and saw Mr. Todashev running at him with a metal pole, according to the official, adding that it might have been a broomstick.
The agent fired several shots at Mr. Todashev, striking him and knocking him backward. But Mr. Todashev again charged at the agent. The agent fired several more shots at Mr. Todashev, killing him. The detective in the room did not fire his weapon, the official said.
Afterwords
Kudos to the Washington Post editorial staff (yes, the editorial staff!) for asking these same questions—at least most of them—yesterday.
