Boston Marathon bombings suspect partied after attack

Boston, April 21: One of the two Chechen-origin Boston bombings suspects, who was arrested after a massive manhunt, partied with his friends, tweeted rap lyrics and lived a normal college life after the deadly attack.

19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spent an apparently normal day on Wednesday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he was a sophomore, according to a school official, working out in the gym, and then sleeping in his dorm room.

Law enforcement officials frantically scanned photos trying to identify the men who planted deadly bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday that claimed three lives and injured over 180 others, while Dzhokhar went about his life as usual after the attack.

Card swipes told officials that Dzhokhar, described as a good and typical student who played intramural soccer, was on campus on Wednesday, but it was not clear if he had been there earlier in the week, the Boston Globe reported.

A student, who did not want to be identified, also said she saw Dzhokhar at a party on Wednesday night that was attended by some of his soccer friends.

"He was just relaxed," she said.

Before heading to the party, Dzhokhar sickeningly tweeted, "I'm a stress-free kind of guy", the New York Post reported.

Dzhokhar was the subject of an intense manhunt until he was cornered and captured in a backyard in Watertown on Friday evening. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed early Friday morning in a shootout with the police.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus in the southeastern part of the state closed early Friday morning after school officials realised the younger of the two men authorities said were responsible for the Monday bombings was a student there.

A handful of students milled about the front entrance, watching police come and go.

Rolon said when she returned from class on Thursday afternoon, she and her friends watched a television news broadcast showing the images of the suspects, including one she thought looked faintly like Tsarnaev.

"We made a joke like - that could be Dzhokhar," she said.

"But then we thought it just couldn't be him. Dzhokhar? Never."

PTI