Audio: Friend Of The Tsarnaev Brothers Calls Dzhokhar ‘The Most Popular Kid In High School’

When Adhi Moro heard that his longtime friends, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, he headed to Watertown to speak with the hordes of reporters desperate to understand who these brothers were and why they might have committed such heinous acts. He agreed to answer their barrage of questions.

Like nearly everyone who knew and has spoken about the younger brother, Dzhokhar, 19, Moro expressed complete dismay that he might be involved in something like the bombings at the Boston Marathon. He was slightly less emphatic when it came to the older brother, Tamerlan, 26, who he described as very tough and confident.

Some of the more interesting claims that Moro, 22, made about the brothers’ lives:

• Dzhokhar was “the most popular kid in high school”
• Tamerlan was a strong and intimidating guy
• Their dad owned a garage where they worked
• They didn’t really talk about Chechnya or their heritage
• Tamerlan declined to go pro as a boxer
• Girls loved Dzhokhar in school, but he wasn’t too interested
• It’s less surprising that Tamerlan is accused of these crimes
• Their family used to rent a house in Cambridge from a nice older lady
• Tamerlan seems to have been a big influence on Dzhokhar