BOSTON (AP) — Details emerged Wednesday on another friend
of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who may have been
linked to events surrounding the deadly attack, this one a high school
classmate tied to a gun used to kill a university policeman during a
manhunt for Tsarnaev and his brother.
Stephen Silva, who also
enrolled at the same university as Tsarnaev, was arrested this week on
federal charges of heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with
an obliterated serial number. The gun was used to kill Massachusetts
Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier while the Tsarnaevs
were being sought, according to two people with knowledge of the case
who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because
they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation.
Silva told
police he smoked marijuana every day because "my best friend was the
bomber," according to court documents in a state case from last year.
Silva
was a close friend of Tsarnaev, who’s accused with his brother,
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, of setting off bombs at the April 2013 marathon,
killing three people and injuring more than 260 others, and then
ambushing Collier days later and shooting him multiple times in his car.
He’s one of five men connected to the Tsarnaevs who have been charged
in the bombing investigation.
On Monday, the day Silva was
arrested, a federal jury found Azamat Tazhayakov guilty of obstruction
of justice and conspiracy for trying to protect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by
agreeing with another friend, Dias Kadyrbayev, to get rid of a backpack
and disable fireworks they took from his dorm room. Kadyrbayev is to be
tried next month on the same charges.
Robel Phillipos, who is
charged with lying to investigators about being in the dorm room with
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov the night the items were taken, is to have a
separate trial in September. And Khairulluzon Matanov is to be tried
next year on charges that he lied to investigators about the extent of
his friendship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the contact he had with both
brothers after the bombings.
Silva was arrested on marijuana
charges at a train station in the Dorchester neighborhood in November.
After transit police found two bags of marijuana and a wad of $555 in
cash in his pockets, he repeatedly told them, "I smoke a lot of weed
every day because my best friend was the bomber," court documents say.
George
Hinson, who attended the Cambridge Rindge and Latin school with Silva,
Silva’s twin brother and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said Silva’s arrest came as a
shock.
"He would not have given (Tsarnaev) the gun or hidden it
if he knew he was a terrorist," Hinson said. "Tsarnaev probably gave him
a different story. He probably just wanted to make sure his friend was
protected."
Hinson said Silva and his twin brother, Steven Silva,
initially enrolled at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, where
Tsarnaev went, but the twins eventually transferred to the UMass campus
in Boston.
"Steven was the pretty boy," Hinson said. "Stephen was sort of the laid-back one."

Cordelia
van Heeckeren, who lives on the floor of the Cambridge high-rise
apartment building where the Silva twins lived with their parents, said
she was stunned when she saw FBI agents with hacksaws preparing to enter
the Silvas’ apartment Monday. She said the twinsseemed to have a
regular group of friends and were generally well-behaved.
Attorney
Jonathan Shapiro, who represents Stephen (pronounced STEF’-an) Silva in
the federal case, said Wednesday he couldn’t elaborate on his earlier
statement that he was still meeting with his client and reviewing the
case.
"According to news reports, law enforcement officials say it
is the same weapon that was used … in the MIT officer Sean Collier
shooting," Shapiro said Tuesday, after Silva made his initial court
appearance. "However, this has not been charged in the indictment."
The
state court documents didn’t explain whether Silva believed his friend
Tsarnaev was the bomber because of news reports identifying the
Tsarnaevs as the suspects or through other means. They also didn’t
elaborate on why he said he smoked marijuana because of what he believed
was his friend’s role in the deadly bombing.
According to the
federal indictment, Silva received the gun in or around February 2013.
It said the gun "had the importer’s and manufacturer’s serial number
removed, obliterated, and altered and had previously been shipped and
transported in interstate and foreign commerce."
The gun was
recovered in suburban Watertown, where authorities say the Tsarnaevs
shot at police and threw pipe bombs at them during the manhunt.
Watertown police have said Tamerlan Tsarnaev fired the gun at them and
then threw it at them when it ran out of bullets.
The indictment also alleges Silva conspired to distribute heroin this summer in the Boston area.
Silva was ordered to remain in custody, and a bail hearing was scheduled for Aug. 6.
Tamerlan
Tsarnaev was killed in the shootout with police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
escaped but was soon found nearby, wounded and hiding in a boat
dry-docked in a backyard.
He has pleaded not guilty and is
scheduled for trial in November. He faces the possibility of the death
penalty if convicted. His lawyer declined to comment on Silva’s
statement to police in the marijuana case.