Court filing: Friend ties elder Tsarnaev to triple slaying

BOSTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A man fatally shot during a confrontation with the FBI tied deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev to a triple slaying, court papers say.

A motion filed in U.S. District Court in Boston indicated Ibragim Todashev said Tsarnaev "participated in the Waltham [Mass.] triple homicide," the Boston Herald reported Wednesday.

Prosecutors are trying to prevent defense lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, being held as a suspect in the Boston Marathon twin bombings in which three people died and more than 260 were injured, from obtaining documents related to his elder Tsarnaev's suspected role in the Waltham slayings. In their filing, the prosecutors said the information could hurt the investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office into the Sept. 11, 2011, crime.

"Disclosure of the details of that investigation could jeopardize it," prosecutors said in the court documents. "[Dzhokhar] Tsarnaev, in contrast, has no urgent need for the privileged investigative materials he seeks."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during a shootout with police in Watertown April 19. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and faces the death penalty for his alleged role in the April 15 bombings near the marathon finish line.

The medical examiner said the three Waltham victims were stabbed in the neck in the same manner, the Herald said. The victims were identified as Brandon Mess, 25, of Waltham; Erik Weissman, 31, of Cambridge; and Raphael Teken, 37, of Cambridge.