Tamerlan Tsarnaev at the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Getty Images)
The Boston Marathon bombing suspect, killed early this morning in a shootout with cops, was a community college dropout who became a devout Muslim over the past several years.
Family and friends of fugitive of Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, said he idolized his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who died today following the murder of an MIT campus police officer.
Dzhokar Tsarnaev was clearly the more academically inclined brother, having attended a prestigious high school before enrolling at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, meanwhile, had studied accounting as a part-time community college student.
The big brother was a student at Bunker Hill Community College for three semesters, studying accounting in fall 2006, spring 2007 and fall 2008, school officials said.
Despite their the brothers’ Chechen roots, Tamerlan didn’t become a devout Muslim until about seven years ago, family said.
“When I was speaking to the older one, he started all this religious talk, ‘Insh’allah’ and all that, and I asked him, ‘Where is all that coming from?'” uncle Ruslin Tsarni said outside his Maryland home.
Some family members said they believed Tamerlan was a bad influence on his little brother.
“I used to warn Dzhokhar that Tamerlan was up to no good,” cousin Zaur Tsarnaev told The Boston Globe in an interview today from Makhachkala.
“[Tamerlan] was always getting into trouble. He was never happy, never cheering, never smiling. He used to strike his girlfriend. He hurt her a few times. He was not a nice man. I don’t like to speak about him. He caused problems for my family.”
Tamerlan was an avid boxer who posed for a photographer’s picture essay “Will Box for Passport.” The photographer followed the 201-pound Tamerlan through his bouts at the 2009 National Tournament of Champions in Salt Lake City.
In the photo essay, the dead suspect revealed he had struggled to fit into American culture.
“I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them,” he said.
As a devout Muslim, Tamerlan didn’t drink or swear.
“He talked about it [religion] a lot,” said John Allan, owner of the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts Center in Boston where the dead suspect often fought.
“He always kept his shirt on. He did not like swearing at all.”
Allan told The Globe that the young fighter loved boxing but didn’t like the gym, which he believed promoted a culture opposite to his Muslim beliefs.
“In fact, he had a big problem with the boxing gyms he was training at because he thought they were very disrespectful because they used foul language and joked around a lot and weren’t what he considered professional,” said Allan.