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on april 15th, 2013, brothers dzhokhar "jahar" anzorovich tsarnaev and tamerlan anzorovich tsarnaev set off two home-made pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the 117th annual boston marathon.
tamerlan was born in either the kalmyk assr or kyrgyzstan on october 21st, 1986 (the day after his parents' marriage, fun fact!). jahar was born july 22nd, 1993, in either kyrgyzstan or dagestan. due to the family's frequent moves across central asia, the exact place of birth for the two is difficult to discern. other notable members of the family include two sisters (of unknown ages; one was called bella) and an uncle ruslan. the family was "traditional[ly] muslim," according to a relative.
in 2002, the brothers' parents, anzor tsarnaev and zubeidat tsarnaeva, brought jahar with them to the united states on a 90-day tourist visa. from there, anzor applied for asylum, and their residence in the u.s. became a permanent one. tamerlan and his sisters were left in either kyrgyzstan or kazakhstan under the care of their uncle, ruslan, and two years passed before tamerlan was reunited with his brother and his parents in the u.s.. the family took up residence in cambrige, massachusetts.
the tsarnaev children were granted "derivative asylum status" until 2007, when the family was granted "legal permanent residence." jahar became a legal citizen of the u.s. while in college, along with his mother, zubeidat— but tamerlan never achieved a u.s. citizenship, instead remaining a "permanent resident" with dual citizenship in russia and kyrgyzstan.
the tsarnaev brothers were both very athletic; jahar was a wrestler throughout high school, and it seems that tamerlan's lifelong passion was boxing. tamerlan was also musically inclined, playing the piano and the violin, and fashionable.
tamerlan applied to umass boston in 2006, but was rejected, and instead attended community college part-time for three years. apparently, he intended to become an engineer, but eventually dropped out of college so that he could focus on his boxing career.
jahar attended umass dartmouth starting in 2011, having received a $2,500 scholarship from the city of cambridge. his aspirations changed frequently throughout his time attending umass; he'd started out studying marine biology, then switched to nursing.
friends of jahar's say that he was a sociable person. he was friendly, laid-back; he didn't seem to be particularly political, and he wasn't aggressive or violent. he smoked a lot of weed and frequently spoke with his friends about girls he liked. some sources claim that he was secretive about his family, even ashamed of them— others say that he followed his brother around "like a puppy dog."
tamerlan, however, did not have as much of a positive reputation. he was apparently violent. in 2007, he punched a boy who had dated his younger sister. he flew across the country to "straighten up" his brother-in-law, whom his sister had accused of domestic abuse, in 2008. he drank and smoked frequently.
apparently, tamerlan became particularly religious during 2008; even though he'd been raised muslim, it seems that he hadn't been extremely devout until then. he gave up smoking and drinking entirely and began to attend a nearby mosque regularly.
more to be added in the future.