The uncle of two young men suspected of planting two bombs at the Boston Marathon urged one of his nephews to turn himself in during an emotional interview outside his Maryland home.
"Turn yourself in," urged Ruslan Tsarni, his voice rising above a crowd of reporters in his Montgomery Village neighborhood. "Turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness... ask for forgiveness from these people."
“I’ve been following this since day one, but never ever would imagine that somehow the children of my brother would be associated with that," Tsarni said.
Later, he said: "No, I never knew. Even if I had a guess at something, I would just submit them myself."
Tsarni's brother is the father of Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, who authorities say is a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his older brother, was killed in a gun battle and apparent explosion overnight in Watertown, Mass.
Tsarni said he felt the young men might have felt angry and ostracised.
"Being losers… hatred those who were able to settle themselves… these are the only reasons I can imagine.”
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“Somebody radicalized them," Tsarni said. "But it’s not my brother, who moved back to Russia, who spent his life bringing bread to their table, fixing cars. He did not have time or chance or anything... he’s been working.”
He said his family has not spoken to his brother's family for "a long long time."
“I just wanted my family to be away of them," Tsarni said.
"Of course we’re ashamed. Yes, we’re ashamed," Tsarni said. "They’re children of my brother, who had little influence over them, honestly, as much as I know.”
Tsarni said they were not motivated by any religious reasons, and said he was angry that they had brought suspicion to people from Chechnya. "Anything else to do with Islam, it's a fraud, it's a fake," Tsarni said.
“He put shame on the entire Chechnyan ethnicity," Tsarni said.
Authorities visited Tsarni's Montgomery County home — as well as the home of another relative — Friday morning to talk to them about the suspects.
FBI agents and Montgomery County police arrived at Tsarni's home shortly before 9:30 a.m. to talk to the family and take a look at the home, reported News4 NBC Washington's Pat Collins.
Authorities closed off the street briefly.
Tsarni is married with children. Earlier, authorities allowed a woman, possibly the children's mother, out of the home to drive the children to school, Collins said.
Neighbors said the family has lived on the street for five to seven years. They said the family is pleasant and there have never been any problems in the home.
"They are lovely neighbors, very cordial, always looking after their home and always aware of their neighbors," said neighbor Adam Mason.
"I feel like Boston's now in my back yard," Mason said. "It's a shame, because they are lovely people."
Neighbors said they were surprised by Friday morning's police activity.
Earlier Friday, Tsarni spoke to Boston TV station WBZ. He and told the station he couldn't believe the news about his nephews.
"I'm sorry" if they were the bombers, Tsarni said.
Tsarni told the Associated Press that the men lived together near Boston and have been in the United States for about a decade. They traveled here together from the Russian region near Chechnya.
Authorities also visited the Montgomery Village home of another apparent relative of the suspects, but NBC Washington was unable to immediately confirm how they were related.
The resident, as identified to Jordan by a neighbor, arrived with a few Montgomery County police officers and some other law enforcement agents, possibly federal, on late Friday morning.
They went inside for about 15 minutes and left around 11:15 a.m. with the resident, who was not in custody and appeared to be walking among them, Jordan said.
Federal, state and local authorities in Massachusetts and across the East Coast are seeking Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, who they say is a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his older brother, was killed in a gun battle and apparent explosion overnight in Watertown, Mass.
Tsarni told the Associated Press that the men lived together near Boston and have been in the United States for about a decade. They traveled here together from the Russian region near Chechnya.
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