"I want justice. I want an investigation," cried Abdulbaki Todashev, father of Ibragim Todashev, the Chechen man shot to death by an FBI agent on May 22 in Florida. Abdulbaki said during a press conference in Moscow that U.S. authorities questioned his son for hours about his links to the Boston Marathon bomber and killed him to shut him up.
"They come to your house like bandits, and they shoot you," the furious father stated during the news conference. Abdulbaki has applied for a U.S. visa so he can pick his son's body in Orlando.
"They were torturing the man for eight hours. There was no lawyer, no witnesses, nobody. Until we get the results of the official investigation, we can only guess what was going on there," Todashev added during the interview.
Ibragim Todashev was linked to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing. Ibragim also had admitted to his direct role in the triple murder case in Waltham, Massachusetts in 2011. He transferred to Florida two years ago from Massachusetts.
According to the father, the 27-year old man was questioned by the FBI in three occasions. The first was when he was asked about the Boston bombing. The second time was when he was asked about a triple murder in Massachusetts that may have involved Tsarnaev. The third interview happened in the kitchen of his Florida home, with an FBI coming with two state troopers from Massachusetts, and ended with his son being shot to death seven times.
"Why was he interrogated three times without a lawyer? Why no recording? Why seven shots? And why should I believe their version? Why do American policemen believe they can do whatever they want?" a Chechen lawyer present during the Moscow press conference asked.
While the incident at the Florida apartment was described as a shootout at first, there were two officials who said that Ibragim was not armed.
In a statement with CNN, an official revealed that everything happened in less than a minute. A samurai sword was seen where Ibragim was being interviewed but this was moved out of reach. According to the official, one of the detectives felt odd about the behavior of the Chechen man and told the federal agent. One of the police officers was out of the room that time.
In a blink, Ibragim knocked the table over and attacked the FBI agent with an object he grabbed. The FBI agent fired several times but Ibragim did not stop. The law enforcer then fired more shots at point blank to stop him.
The FBI is conducting an investigation. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and local prosecutors have also started an independent probe. The investigation is expected to last for months, according to officials.
"(He was) a regular, funny boy (who) loved his brothers and sisters," Abdulbaki described his son. "He wanted to stay (in the United States and I) said it was a nice place to train and to live. I said he should stay there."
The father also informed the press that his dead son had just recently underwent a leg surgery and cannot walk without crutches.
