If you were the most wanted man in America, would you set up a Twitter account and start tweeting from it?
Probably not. Which is why this Twitter account purporting to be posted by Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is almost certainly fake:
I will kill you all as you killed my brother
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will kill you @boston_police
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
@boston_policeI will kill you all as you killed my brother Tamerlan
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
I will kill you all as you killed my brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev #watertown
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
@boston_police I will kill you all as you killed my brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev #watertown one killed i think one injured;;;; gooooo hell
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
вас всех убьем, как вы убили моего брата Тамерлана Царнаев # Watertown один убит, я думаю, один ранен,,,, иди к черту
— Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (@Dzhokhar_A) April 19, 2013
The likely-phony account was mentioned on the Boston Police Department scanner:
Twitter account cited by scanner appears fake, created today: @dzhokhar_a (thanks @jaredbkeller)
— Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) April 19, 2013
The @dzhokhar_a must be considered fake until confirmed by law enforcement. Seems amateurish, but being treated seriously on scanner.
— Billy Baker (@billy_baker) April 19, 2013
.@dzhokhar_a is probably fake, but they were reading its tweets on the police scanner
— Jared Adler (@jaredadler) April 19, 2013
We are also seeing reports that some MSM outlets cited the account as if it were legitimate.
And FoxNews just played police scanner quoting that account. RT @jtlol: Do everybody a favor and spamblock the hoax account @dzhokhar_a.
— RedBrightandTrue (@RedBrightandTru) April 19, 2013
Dear @foxnews, @cnn, @msnbc, @abcnews, @nbcnews, @cbsnews, et al.: @dzhokhar_a is a hoax account. Please stop.
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) April 19, 2013
RT if you agree: The media should stop quoting the hoax account @dzhokhar_a.
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) April 19, 2013
Anything is possible but we would be very surprised if this account turns out to be real.
* * *
Update:
CNN talked to police officers who think the account is legit?
@michellemalkin CNN just said they heard from officers that is him on twitter.
— Boston For Angie! (@BostonForAngie) April 19, 2013
We’re still skeptical (it’s CNN, after all), but like we said, anything is possible.
* * *
Update:
Here’s another “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev” account:
This one also appears to be fake.
FYI: @dzhokhar_ is a fake account. It used to look like this: twitter.com/c_heller/statu…
— Chris Heller (@c_heller) April 19, 2013
Also fake. Used to be @footytube_ ~ just changed profile. RT @youranonnews: Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev’s real twitter account -@dzhokhar_
— Zach Green (@140elect) April 19, 2013
Update:
One of Tsarnaev’s high school classmates told BuzzFeed that this is the suspect’s Twitter account.
CONFIRMED: @j_tsar Is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Actual Twitter Account buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/…
— Ryan Broderick (@ryanpbroderick) April 19, 2013
CNN confirms:
CNN says friends of second suspect who follow him on Twitter confirm this is his account: @j_tsar
— Evan Hill (@evanchill) April 19, 2013
CNN apparently say they have confirmed @j_tsar is the real Twitter account of Dzhokar Tsarnaev.
— Harry (@_harry91) April 19, 2013
Hmm:
I just called the phone # on Tsarnaev’s Twitter account: “The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.”
— Chris Moody (@Chris_Moody) April 19, 2013
Does suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appear in this image tweeted from the account?
Place your bets twitter.com/J_tsar/status/…
— Jahar (@J_tsar) March 16, 2013
For now, we continue to take this with a grain of salt.
Update:
Related:
Ongoing Twitchy coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing and the hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Read more: http://twitchy.com/2013/04/19/were-pretty-sure-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-is-not-tweeting/
