Gruesome injuries: Boston suspect unable to speak, say officials

Inside source says Tsarnaev was shot in the throat and had tongue damage.

BOSTON: The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings remained in serious condition in the hospital on Sunday, unable to speak due to injuries to his neck and tongue sustained while on the run from police, officials said.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation still was unable to interview Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told CBS television, and authorities may never be able to speak with him, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said.

The suspect was in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center while US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, the federal prosecutor for the Boston area, was working on filing criminal charges, Davis said. An announcement on charges could come later on Sunday, he said.



Tsarnaev was shot in the throat and had tongue damage, said a source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual,” Menino told ABC’s “This Week” program. He did not elaborate.

Tsarnaev will be defended by the Federal Public Defender Office, which had yet to issue any public statements on the case.

Investigators were seeking a motive for the Boston Marathon bombings and whether others were involved besides the ethnic Chechen brothers they suspect carried out the attacks.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2013.