FROM ESPN: Hey, at least it's not CNN:
At one point, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber who was killed Thursday night, was an aspiring boxer who said "I like the USA" after a successful bout and spoke of boxing for the U.S. Olympic team.
According to the Lowell Sun, Tsarnaev, who came to the U.S. from Chechnya in 2003, won a Golden Gloves novice fight at the 178-pound weight division in January 2004.
"I wanted to fight in the Gloves to see how I would do," Tsarnaev said at the time, according to the Sun. "So far, so good."
He added, according to the Sun: "I like the USA ... America has a lot of jobs. That's something Russia doesn't have. You have a chance to make money here if you are willing to work."
But it wasn’t all roses and johnny cakes and apple pie:
According to the official website of the Golden Gloves, Tsarnaev did participate in the 201-pound division in 2009 but lost a decision to Lamar Fenner of Chicago.
In a photo essay leading up to the Golden Gloves bouts, he said he thought he could use boxing to earn American citizenship, going so far as to say he thought he could make the U.S. Olympic team.
In the same essay, however, he hinted that he wasn't completely comfortable in the U.S., saying: "I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them."
What happened in the intervening years that turned him into an alleged killer has not yet been revealed.
I find it fascinating to hear about their lives in the USA, because we are dealing with immigrants to the US who allegedly obtained Green Cards and wanted to be naturalized citizens (allegedly the younger brother did become a citizen last September 11th); and yet still carried out such a horrific crime.