Did Todashev Have a Knife When He Reportedly Attacked the FBI Agent? Early Reports Claimed He Did, and Now Sources Say He Didn't

Were you kind of bothered by this fact-set? Guy spontaneously confesses to a triple homicide and then attacks three armed persons (FBI agent and two Massachusetts State Troopers) with a knife and is then killed?

Well, none of the following will allay your suspicions.

So, maybe he didn't have a knife.

A local Orlando tv news operation reported:

FBI sources say Ibragim Todashev, a friend of accused Boston Marathon bomber Tamarlen Tsarnaev, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by an FBI agent during questioning at an Orlando apartment last week," says an Orlando television station.

Officials said Todashev pushed a table and possibly threw a chair.

....

Sources said a sword was inside the apartment, but the weapon was moved to the corner of the room before questioning began. Law enforcement said when Todashev lunged, the FBI agent believed he could have possibly been going for his gun or the sword in the room, and that's when the agent opened fire.

The Washington Post then reported:

One law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said Wednesday that Todashev lunged at the agent and overturned a table. But the official said Todashev did not have a gun or a knife. A second official also said Todashev was unarmed.

An official said that according to one account of the shooting, the other law enforcement officials had just stepped out of the room, leaving the FBI agent alone with Todashev, when the confrontation occurred.The shooting followed hours of questioning by the law enforcement officials that had begun the night before.

The most recent story, from the Orlando Sentinel, has the samurai sword back in the mix.

Though early accounts from unnamed federal law-enforcement sources claimed Todashev might have been armed with a knife, the latest version, released by a Fox affiliate in Boston, reported that Todashev lunged with a sword at the agent.

Shibly said there was a sword at the apartment, but it was mounted on the wall, ornamental and had a dull blade and a broken handle.

I have no explanations for this. I don't even have a read on it.

Except for this: While I previously gave certain parts of government more credit than others, I'm starting to believe it's just all corrupt.

And I don't even mean Scary Conspiracy Theory Corrupt. I mean corrupt as human beings are always corrupt: They screw up, then they lie about it, and then their initial lies spur follow-up lies, and then the whole department realizes that there's a problem with the initial employee who lied and now they all have to lie to "protect the integrity" of whatever.

I don't know if that happened here. The guy could have lunged for the sword, and the FBI agent could have just been a little too quick on the draw. (Or perhaps just in time on the draw. Who knows.)

But whereas before I'd provisionally assume the FBI was telling the truth, I gotta tell you: My working assumption is now that they are lying.

Because that's what they do.

And this is a pretty good reason to keep the government small and weak and then eyeball the hell of it anyway.

Incidentally, it sure would be nice to see photos of the wounds reportedly suffered by the FBI agent, even if the agent's identity continues to be obscured. Surely they can release photos of wounds to the body or arms.

posted by Ace at 05:25 PM

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