Ibragim Todashev, 27, was shot in a condo at 6022 Peregrine Ave. in the Windhover community, a quiet residential area near Universal Studios, said FBI Agent Dave Couvertier.
Friend: Todashev under investigation
Khusn Taramiv, a friend of Todashev, told several television outlets his friend was being investigated in relation to the Boston bombings and Todashev knew bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev because both were Mixed Martial-Arts fighters.
Taramiv told television reporters that Todashev had lived in Boston and did Mixed Martial Arts fighting with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and that Todashev had last talked to Tamerlan Tsarnaev about a month ago when they spoke on the phone.
Ever since the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing attack, Taramiv said, the FBI have been questioning Todashev, and have also talked to him.
Taramiv said Todashev was reluctant to talk to the FBI. "I told him, 'well if you don't feel like going there, don't go there, but if we don't go, it's going to be more suspicious, they are going to start following us even more.' So we decided to go," Taramiv said.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev — the older of two Chechen-born brothers accused in the bombings — died after a shootout with police in Boston after the bombing.
His brother, 19-year-old Dzhokar, is charged with carrying out the April 15 Boston Marathon attack that killed three and injured 260.
NBC News reported Wednesday morning that law enforcement officials said Todashev had confessed to the agent in Florida that he played a role in a triple murder in 2011 in which three men were killed in an apartment in Waltham, Mass.
Their throats had been cut, and their bodies were covered with marijuana. No suspects had been arrested in that case, but it has been reported that authorities suspected Tamerlan Tsarnaev was also involved in that triple murder.
The NBC News report said FBI agents were questioning Todashev on Tuesday. He was cooperative at first, law enforcement officials told NBC, but late Tuesday night, he attacked the agent with a knife — and the agent shot and killed him.
The NBC report says that Todashev became violent as he was about to sign a written statement based on his confession.
The officials told NBC that Todashev had some connections with radical Chechen rebels, but it was not clear whether he had any role in radicalizing Tsarnaev.
Todashev recently arrested in Orlando
Todashev was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff's Office on May 4 and charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
In that incident, Todashev told deputies he got in a fight with a man over a parking space at the Orlando Premium Outlet mall and "was only fighting to protect his knee because he had surgery in March," according to the arrest report.
The Sheriff's office report says that two men were fighting and one — later identified as Todashev — was leaving the scene in a vehicle, while the other was on the ground, appeared unconscious, and surrounded by "a considerable amount of blood."
Deputies pursued Todashev, pulled him over and ordered him out of his car at gunpoint, according to the report. The victim, who had a split upper lip and "several teeth knocked out of place," did not want to press charges, according to the report.
"Flipped out"
According to WESH Channel 2, who got information from an unnamed FBI source, Todashev "flipped out" during an interview Tuesday night and an agent was forced to shoot him.
FBI sources also told WESH that Todashev has extremist friends overseas.
Couvertier would not confirm that information.
"We are still gathering facts involving the shooting incident," he said.
The Medical Examiner's office will conduct an autopsy on Todashev's body Wednesday.
Suspect a MMA fighter
Near the scene Wednesday morning, Bob Tursky – whose son lives a few doors down from Todashev said he was acquainted with Todashev, who he said always seemed like a nice guy, and that the two often made small talk.
Tursky said Todashev told him he was a martial arts fighter and once told him he won $500 in a bout.
An Internet search shows Todashev won an MMA fight in July 2012 at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa. Todashev fights out of Kissimmee, according to multiple websites.
Florida state records show Todashev was issued a Mixed Martial Arts license on Aug. 14. That license, which is required to participate in an MMA event in Florida, expired Dec. 31.
Todashev was also issued a Federal Identification number for Mixed Martial Arts on Aug. 14. That is good through Aug. 17, 2016, and that federal license is required to participate in MMA matches, according to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Neighbors roamed around the condos sharing stories and getting a peek at the rear of the unit where FBI agents set up a tent and are collecting evidence inside.
No one knew the suspect well but say the community is tight-knit and frequently people get together and talk around the complex's pond.
[He was a member of a "tight-knit" community, but "no one knew" him well? Maybe I'm makig the mistake of taking some mindless filler seriously, but that sentence makes no sense on its own terms.]
In the last two months, neighbors reported unfamiliar cars and men walking around the complex and parking near the condo.
Neighbors react after fatal shooting
Neighbor Debbie Elliot lives just a few units away from the unit where gunshots at the Windhover community awoke her this morning.
Unsure of what was going on, she woke up others inside her home and started scouring the Internet for information as the parking lot exploded with police and men wearing FBI windbreakers.
She later learned her neighbor, Todashev, a burly man with an accent who gave candy to neighborhood kids, was the center of all the attention.
She said he spent hours doing grueling exercise routines in the Windhover community pool.
Most neighbors knew him casually and conversations were relegated to mainly chit chat as he walked his dog around.
Nothing about the man inspired suspicion and Elliott said he did not isolate himself from others. Friends visited frequently in this tightly knit condo complex.
She said the man used to sit in his white Mercedes and listen to music but she did not know much else about him.
"He was a friendly guy. Everyone around here talked to him," Elliott said. "He never told us his name ... It's shocking."
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Arelis Hernandez and Desiree Stennett contributed to this report. jesullivan@tribune.com or 407-420-5620
