Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev — the elder Tsarnaev brother killed during a gun battle with police — received taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, according to a report in the Boston Herald.
State officials confirmed to the Herald Tuesday night that Tsarnaev, his wife Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their young daughter were receiving benefits until 2012, when they failed to meet income eligibility requirements.
The Herald further reports that Tsarnaev’s parents were both receiving government benefits. The state confirmed that when Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his accomplice brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (currently in custody) were younger, they received benefits through their parents.
State officials did not elaborate to the Herald when the Tsarnaevs began receiving government benefits, however Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus said that the Tsarnaevs “were not receiving transitional assistance benefits at the time of the incident,” or the Boston marathon bombing.
Loftus would not say how much the family received, nor the type of programs in which they were enrolled.