Tamerian & Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Through the truly remarkable work of a number of cooperating law enforcement agencies and public-minded citizens, the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings were quickly identified and neutralized, one through death and the other through capture. The first thing we need to do is remember and honor all of the victims, particularly MIT Police Officer Sean Collier and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Officer Richard Donohue. These two fine men are heroic examples of the willingness of police officers to place their own lives on the line every day to protect ours.
And now that the manhunt is over and the next phase of the investigation begins, it is appropriate for us to review the two statements we were prepared to make about the perpetrator or perpetrators before we knew anything about him or them.
First, we stated that the UNSUB was a coward. It takes a perverted form of courage to commandeer an airliner and send it into a building, knowing it will be the last act of your life on earth; likewise to strap on a bomb harness and blow yourself up in the middle of a crowded square.
But setting off explosives that are going to kill and maim others while you calmly walk away – that is the act of a coward, a coward who has so depersonalized his potential victims that he doesn’t even care who they are. Assassinating a police officer sitting in his car is also the act of a coward, one who always tries to make sure he never has to engage in a “fair fight.” Robbing or carjacking when you have a gun and your victim doesn’t is certainly no demonstration of bravery.
Yes, we realize that the brothers Tsarnaev engaged in a protracted gun battle with police and that 26-year-old Tamerlan ultimately did surround himself with explosives when the law was closing in on him. But that is not an act of courage. That is “suicide by cop,” a way out for a classic coward who fears being taken alive more than he does death. And where do we find younger brother Dzhokar? Cravenly hiding in a boat while the police hunt the Watertown neighborhood for him. His shootout only begins when he has no other option.
The other statement we made – before we knew what, if any political agenda the UNSUB or UNSUBs may have had – was that whatever it was, it was actually a displacement for deep-seated personal inadequacies. That also turns out to be the case.
Tamerlan was a loser from the word “Go.” Even his uncle in Montgomery County, Maryland, said so. Tamerlan wrote, “I don’t have a single American friend. I don’t understand them.” He had troubled personal relationships. His citizenship was held up because he had physically abused his girlfriend. He was going nowhere in his life and needed a cause, even if that cause involved the wanton taking of innocent life.
Nineteen-year-old Dzhokar seemed to do better for a while. He graduated from a prestigious high school, earned his American citizenship and had many loyal friends. Some are now saying his greatest mistake was looking up to and wanting to emulate his older brother. And they may be right.
But there is an element that is even more telling, and we find this over and over again in individuals who “suddenly” come out of nowhere to commit mass violence. And that is a precipitating incident or emotional stressor. It could be a wife or girlfriend walking out, it could be the loss of a job, it could be the death of a parent or almost anything else. In this case, for whatever combination of reasons, Dzhokar was doing poorly at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth – mostly D’s and F’s. His entire self-image and all of his bright plans for the future in his adopted country were in jeopardy. And at the same time, his older brother was offering him the chance to do something truly “significant” that would validate him as a worthwhile and committed person. The dots are not difficult to connect.
Now, all that is gone for him, including his brother. In all likelihood, this teenager will never have another day of freedom in what potentially could be a long life, if he is not executed for his alleged crimes.( While Massachusetts doesn’t have a death penalty, the feds do.) As he lies in his hospital bed under heavy guard, we wonder if he is reflecting on his choice to be a coward and a loser.
Because that is what it always is – a choice.
Or maybe they can’t kill someone they’ve looked in the eye. They have to leave a bomb and sneak away or sneak up on a cop sitting in his car in order to kill.
Interesting idea, Tom. You may very well be right.
Yes it’s interesting joe5348. Leaving the carjacking victim alive could simply reflect that there was not a ‘need’ to kill him him in that situation. Perhaps their main work was done with the bombing, then it was about getting away, not creating more civilian casualties.
I haven’t really formed any firm opinions at this stage about the two perpetrators, just ideas. You could also be right: maybe it does reflect that they are not as lacking in care and compassion as it would seem. People can compartmentalise quite a bit.
Gentlemen,
What do you make of the release of the carjacking victim? It seems that they can’t kill someone that they have established even a brief relationship with. It seems to me that, as evil as they are, they at least have some ability to relate to others. A true sociopath would have killed the carjacking victim, taken his car and left the area.
That is if you believe their story? Think for a second first the zodiac victim claimed victim then Carol DaRonch then in the Green River case all had one escape and it served them well. So therefore women can assist and even murder as well as men so if Susan Atkins told me nothing else it was women will behave strangely and illegally for men. In my opinion they have in the past and that shows when Bundy never made mistakes did and that seems very unusual.