By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, The New York Times
BOSTON — A man with ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect, was shot and killed by a law enforcement official in Orlando, Fla., as the F.B.I. tried to interview him early Wednesday morning, according to a law enforcement official.
The man was identified as Ibragim Todashev, the official said.
The F.B.I.'s Tampa field office released a short statement saying that it was “currently responding to a shooting incident involving an F.B.I. special agent” that had occurred in Orlando.
“The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties,” the statement said. “The suspect is deceased. We do not have any further details at this time.”
Early on Wednesday morning, officials at the F.B.I.'s headquarters in Washington dispatched a shooting-response unit to Florida to help investigators determine what had occurred, according to a law enforcement official.
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the F.B.I. has sought to speak with people who knew Mr. Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar, in an effort to learn how they were radicalized and to rule out the possibility that they had accomplices.
As part of those efforts, the F.B.I. has questioned many members of the small community of ethnic Chechens in the United States.
Repeatedly since April 29, agents have interviewed a Chechen refugee and former rebel fighter, Musa Khadzhimuratov, of Manchester, N.H. Tamerlan Tsarnaev used a firing range in Manchester to practice shooting and bought fireworks in New Hampshire to extract the explosive powder used in the marathon bombs.
Mr. Khadzhimuratov, 36, and his wife, Madina, 32, say they had only brief social visits with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, including one a few weeks before the bombing. They say they knew nothing about his purchase of fireworks or guns and had no hint that he was plotting the Boston attack.
Some advocates for the Chechen community have expressed concern that Russian intelligence officers might be steering the F.B.I. to target Chechens in the United States who are hostile to Russia but have nothing to do with terrorism.
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