They got him

Accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been hiding out in a boat in a yard all along. The boat was owned by a man named David Henneberry.

On ABC just now, there were many reports of shots fired earlier in the evening -- even though the cops denied engaging in a shoot-out. (They said they had used flash bangs, although I doubt that one could easily confuse the two.) However, ABC spoke to a couple of Henneberry's neighbors...

"That boat's his baby. He takes care of it like you wouldn't believe. And they told him it's all shot up," Pizzuto said. "He's going to be heartbroken."

Erik Thompson, who lives across the street from the Henneberry's home, said he heard gunshots and saw law enforcement rush to the scene.

"There was some gunfire earlier which was almost immediately stopped. People were yelling to cease fire, and it seems to be focused on some homes across the street from where I am, which I think is the western side of the street," Thompson said.

Looks like we've had some rather nervous cops with itchy trigger fingers. Not that I can blame them too much, given the situation. Still, I'm glad that Dzhokhar did not end up like his brother...

Elder brother Tamerlan, incidentally, had an American family from a Christian background, and they claim that he cannot have acted out of religious motivations. Yet his YouTube account shows evidence of Al Qaeda sympathies and an apocalyptic mind-set.

The YouTube page includes religious videos, including one of Feiz Mohammad, a fundamentalist Australian Muslim preacher who rails against the evils of Harry Potter. One playlist includes a video dedicated to the prophecy of the Black Banners of Khurasan, which is embraced by Islamic extremists—particularly Al Qaeda. The prophecy states that an invincible army will come from the region of Khurasan in central Asia.

"This is a major hadith (reported saying of the prophet Muhammad) that jihadis use; it is essentially an end-time prophecy," says Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "This is definitely important in Al Qaeda's ideology."

This doesn't sound so very different from the crap eschatology that made so much loot for Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. How can a man buy into such an absurd belief system yet keep his feelings secret from his family?

Update: The FBI interviewed Tamerlan two years ago...

...the FBI interviewed Tsarnaev, the elder brother of at-large bombing suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, at the request of a foreign government to see if he had any extremist ties, but failed to find any linkage.

Anyone out there care to guess just which foreign government? I'm thinking Turkey, since Tamelan spent some time there.

The story includes these intriguing nuggets:

Although the FBI initially denied contacting Tsarnaev, the brothers' mother said they had in an interview with Russia Today.

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said her son got involved in "religious politics" about five years ago, and never told her he was involved in "jihad."

She insisted the FBI "knew what he was doing on Skype" and that they counseled him "every step of the way."

Wait: The FBI counseled him? This story is maddeningly contradictory.

Tsarnaeva, who is a U.S. citizen currently in Russia, told Russia Today the FBI had called her with concerns about her elder son, although she did not specify when exactly she was contacted.

"They used to come [to our] home, they used to talk to me ... they were telling me that he was really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him," Tsarnaeva said. "They told me whatever information he is getting, he gets from these extremist sites... they were controlling him, they were controlling his every step...and now they say that this is a terrorist act!"

Who was controlling him? This is just the latest shard of data indicating that the brothers worked with a larger group. Where did they get their money? If Tamelan was a loner who complained of having no American friends, then who were the "friends" seen by the mechanic who worked on his Mercedes?