Now that the media has identified the twitter account of one of the two Boston bombers, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, who used the handle @J_tsar [6], the poring over each tweet begins for hints into his motivations. Perhaps the first notable feature is that since Monday when the bombing took place, Dzhokar engaged in at least a dozen tweets.
CNN summarizes some of the more relevant highlights [6]:
The most recent tweet is one he retweeted on Wednesday from Mufti Ismail Menk, who identifies himself as a Muslim scholar. "Attitude can take away your beauty no matter how good looking you are or it could enhance your beauty, making you adorable," the tweet reads.
Another tweet from Tsarnaev on Tuesday was a quote from rapper Eminem: "Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got somethin to say but nothin comes out when they move their lips; just a bunch of gibberish."
After another Twitter account posted a photo Tuesday saying it showed a man who was going to propose to his girlfriend at the marathon in Boston and found her dead, Tsarnaev tweeted a two-word response: "fake story."
Another of the suspect's tweets, an apparent response to someone else's tweet, reads, " and they what 'god hates dead people?' Or victims of tragedies? Lol those people are cooked."
Also Tuesday, Tsarnaev tweeted, "So then I says to him, I says, relax bro my beard is not loaded." On Friday, another Twitter user retweeted that message, and added the words, "But my backpack is."
Alternatively, in the hours just after the bombing, Dzhokar had this to say:
On Monday at 8:04 p.m. -- hours after the bombings -- he tweeted a quote from rapper Jay-Z and a 1970s R&B song, "Ain't no love in the heart of the city." The tweet added, "stay safe people."
Shortly after midnight, on Tuesday morning, he tweeted, "There are people that know the truth but stay silent & there are people that speak the truth but we don't hear them cuz they're the minority."
Naturally, the FBI will be looking at any twitter accounts that the Chechen-born naturalized American engaged with closely.
But perhaps most curious is this blurb [7]from August 10, 2012, showing that the Boston Marathon had been on @J_Tsar's mind long before Monday.
@therealabdul_ [8] boston marathon isn't a good place to smoke tho
— Jahar (@J_tsar) August 10, 2012 [7]
Then, there's this:
mama, im a criminal
— Jahar (@J_tsar) February 14, 2012 [9]
And finally, from March 2012:
a decade in america already, i want out
— Jahar (@J_tsar) March 14, 2012 [10]