Story highlights
NEW: After one nephew is killed, the other is captured Friday night
Islam had nothing to do with nephews' alleged actions, uncle says
"Somebody radicalized them, but it's not my brother," he adds, referring to the men's father
Ruslan Tsarni angrily condemned the alleged actions of his two nephews – the two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings – and after calling the bombers “losers,” the uncle urged the surviving nephew to turn himself in immediately.
“If you’re alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness from the victims,” Tsarni said in front of reporters in a news conference outside his Montgomery County, Maryland, home.
Hours later, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured in Watertown, Massachusetts. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died after an overnight shootout with police.
The brothers come from an ethnic Chechen Muslim family, and Tsarni said the two nephews brought shame to his brother’s family. The nephews are sons of Tsarni’s brother, and Tsarni last saw his nephews in December 2005.
“You put a shame on our entire family – the Tsarnaev family – and you put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity,” Tsarni said.
When asked what provoked the bombing suspects, the uncle stated: “Being losers, hatred to those who were able to settle themselves – these are the only reasons I can imagine.
“Anything else, anything else to do with religion, with Islam, is a fraud, is a fake,” Tsarni said.
“Somebody radicalized them, but it’s not my brother who just moved back to Russia, who spent his life bringing bread to their table, fixing cars. He didn’t have time or chance or anything, options. He’s been working,” Tsarni said, referring to the men’s father.
Tsarni says he teaches his own children to love the United States because it gives a chance to everyone “to be treated as a human being.”
He spoke to reporters because he wanted to express condolences to the Boston Marathon bombing victims and their families, he said. Two blasts Monday killed three people and injured more than 100 gathered at the home stretch and finish line.
“We share with them their grief,” Tsarni said. “I’m ready just to meet with them. I’m ready just to bend in front of them, to kneel in front of them seeking their forgiveness.”
CNN’s Jaclyn Wang contributed to this report.