• Boxing photos of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, marathon bombing suspect killed in firefight

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    These images show Tamerlan Tsarnaev, identified by investigators as Suspect 1 in the Boston Marathon bombings. The older of the two brothers sought by law enforcement, the 26-year-old was killed in a firefight with police. He was born in Russia, and became a permanent legal resident of the United States in 2007, law enforcement officials said.

    Tamerlan Tsarnaev's brother, Dzhokhar, 19, remained at large on Friday.

    The suspect in the black hat in photos released by the FBI, Tsarnaev studied at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and aspired to become an engineer, according to a profile in a Boston University graduate magazine in 2010. He wanted to box for the U.S. Olympic team, according to the profile.

    According to an article in The Lowell Sun newspaper, Tsarnaev boxed in a 2004 tournament as part of a program called Golden Gloves. “I like the USA,” he told the newspaper at the time.

    In the Boston University magazine photospread, Tsarnaev is shown working out at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts Center in Boston, Mass. He is quoted as saying he loves the movie Borat, and describes himself as a Muslim who does not smoke or drink. “I don’t have a single American friend,” he said. “I don’t understand them.”

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Barcroft Media /Landov

    Editor's note: Faces were blurred by the photographer's agency to obscure the identity of other individuals in the pictures.

    Related:

    Glenn Depriest / Getty Images

    Tamerlan Tsamaev, left, fights Lamar Fenner during the 201-pound division boxing match during the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions May 4, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  • Fugitive murder suspect eludes capture in California

    Mendocino County Sheriff via AP

    This Feb. 2011 photo provided by the Mendocino County (Calif.) Sheriff shows Aaron Bassler.

    By Rich Shulman

    This is really dangerous work, and you can see it in the faces of the deputies.

    AP reports:

    OAKLAND, Calif — An opium-growing recluse wanted in connection with two murders exchanged gunfire with police in northern California but slipped back away into dense woods where he has hidden out for five weeks, authorities said on Friday.

    No one was hurt in Thursday's shootout with Aaron Bassler, 35, near the town of Northspur, located about 150 miles north of San Francisco in the rugged coastal mountains of Mendocino County, said sheriff's department Captain Kurt Smallcomb.

    But Bassler, described by his father as mentally ill and living like a virtual hermit, managed to avoid capture again in what was his closest brush with arrest since he went on the run last month.

    Eric Risberg / AP

    Sheriff's deputies searching for murder suspect Aaron Bassler stand on the front of the Skunk train as it pulls into Northspur, Calif., Friday, Sept. 30. Authorities say they are closing in on the murder suspect who has been the subject of the largest local manhunt in decades, as they reported he shot at a group of sheriff's deputies Thursday. Bassler, 35, is suspected of killing a city councilman on Aug. 27 and one other person several weeks before. Bassler is thought to be hiding out in the redwoods outside of Fort Bragg and is believed to have broken into several cabins to steal food and at least two other weapons.

     

    Kent Porter / AP

    An Alameda County Sheriff's deputy lets out a nervous sigh near the Northspur area of Mendocino County, Thursday Sept. 29, 2011 between Fort Bragg and Willits, Ca.

    Eric Risberg / AP

    Mendocino County sheriff's deputy Joey DeMarco stands watch with his patrol dog Barry alongside railroad tracks as the search for murder suspect Aaron Bassler continues in Northspur, Calif., Friday, Sept. 30.