The death certificate of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was released by Massachusetts state officials Friday, revealing that he was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Virginia. Officials had announced earlier this week that Tsarnaev had been buried at a gravesite outside of Massachusetts, but had not disclosed the specific location. 

 

According to the death certificate, Tsarnaev died from "gunshot wounds of torso and extremities and blunt trauma to head and torso" that occurred during a shootout with police in Watertown on the night of April 18. On that night, officials allege that Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar, 19, killed an MIT campus officer and carjacked a vehicle before fleeing to Watertown. The certificate says that Tsarnaev was "shot by police and then run over and dragged by motor vehicle." Authorities have previously said that Dzhokhar ran over his brother with a car while fleeing the scene of the gunfight where the death occurred.

 

Dzhokhar was found the following evening while hiding inside boat in a backyard in Watertown. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and is being held in a federal prison medical facility.

 

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At least four Massachusetts cemeteries had refused to accept Tsarnaev's body, which had been kept at a Worcester funeral home while a willing burial site was found. According to The Boston Globe, the body was secretly transported Wednesday night to the Al-Barzakh Cemetery in Doswell, Virginia. The burial was coordinated by Virginia counselor Martha Mullen, 48, who told The Globe that she had read news stories about protesters demanding that the funeral home director bury the body in a landfill and was upset that ""people were picketing this poor man who was just trying to help." 

 

The grave was provided by the Islamic Society of Greater Richmond, which said in an official statement:

 

"[W]hat Tsarnaev did is between him and God. We strongly disagree with his violent actions, but that does not release us from our obligation to return his body to the earth. ... We must all take a more positive, proactive approach with our children. We need to be in communication with them and know what they are exposed to on the Internet. As fathers and mothers, we must protect our children before they become poisoned by hatred."

 

News of the burial was met with negative reaction by Doswell locals. County officials said they were surprised to learn of the burial and will investigate its legality.

 

“As long as everything was done legally, there’s really very little we can do,” said Floyd Thomas, chairman of the board of supervisors of Caroline County to The Boston Globe. “What we would do is make sure that all of the laws regarding this particular burial were adhered to. If they were not, then I believe we would have to look at undoing what happened.”

 

“The reality is this was ... a horrific event in Boston," he added when asked about his personal feelings concerning the burial. "We sympathize with all the people in Boston. We do not necessarily wish to be the home of the remains of one of those perpetrators.”

 

Officials also said that a deputy would be stationed near the gravesite to protect it, but would not say for how long.

 

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