Boston bomb investigators kill Florida man

Boston bombing investigators have shot dead a man who became violent as they questioned him in Orlando, Florida, FBI officials say.

The shooting took place early on Wednesday as law enforcement personnel interviewed 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, according to officials.

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said in a statement an FBI agent shot Todashev because of an "imminent threat".

The FBI agent was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

US media reported that Todashev had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston bombings suspect killed in a shootout with police days after last month's deadly marathon blasts.

Todashev was a mixed-martial arts fighters who, like Tsarnaev, had links to the Russian republic of Chechnya, according to reports.

FBI spokesman Dave Couvertier said in a statement: "The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties.

"The suspect is deceased. We do not have any further details at this time."

A friend of the dead man, Khusen Taramov, told Florida News 13 that the FBI began questioning and following Todashev soon after the Boston bombings.

Mr Taramov was quoted as saying: "One day they started questioning us, next day after the bombing, not the bombing, after they found out the bombers were Chechnyans, and they started following us, watching us."

He told the news station that before the Boston bombings, Todashev had bought plane tickets to Chechnya, but that the FBI had pressured him into cancelling the flight.

The Associated Press news agency meanwhile reports that Todashev was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of assault, after a dispute over a parking spot at an Orlando shopping centre.

Todashev put a man in hospital with facial injuries during the fracas, according to a report from the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The Boston Marathon blasts killed three people and injured 264 others on 15 April.

Tsarnaev's brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is being held in a prison hospital after being shot before capture. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22627923