Remains of marathon bombing suspect to be claimed

This combination of undated file photos shows the two brothers the FBI initially said were suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday, April 15, 2013, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police several days later, while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured and lies in a hospital prison. Three more suspects have been taken into custody in the marathon bombings, police said Wednesday, May 1, 2013. AP

BOSTON— The body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was set to be claimed Thursday — meaning the cause of his death could be made public this week.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris said authorities were informed someone would be claiming the 26-year-old’s remains Thursday night. He had no more information.

The medical examiner determined Tsarnaev’s cause of death Monday, but officials said it won’t become public until his remains are released and a death certificate is filed. City Hall was already closed Thursday.

Tsarnaev’s widow, Katherine Russell, learned this week that the medical examiner was ready to release his body and wanted it released to his side of the family, her attorney Amato DeLuca said days ago.

Tsarnaev’s uncle Ruslan Tsarni, who lives in the U.S., said Tuesday that the family would take the body.

“Of course, family members will take possession of the body,” Tsarni said. “We’ll do it. We will do it. A family is a family.”

Tsarnaev, who after the marathon bombing had appeared in surveillance photos wearing a black cap and identified as Suspect No. 1, died after a gunfight with authorities days after the April 15 attack.

The bombing, near the marathon’s finish line, killed three people and injured more than 260 others. Authorities said Tsarnaev and his younger brother later killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer and carjacked a driver, who escaped.

Authorities said Tsarnaev and his younger brother then got into a gunfight with police following a massive manhunt, setting off a pressure cooker bomb and tossing grenades before the older brother ran of ammunition.

Police said they tackled the older brother and began to handcuff him but had to dive out of the way at the last second when the younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, drove a stolen car at them. They said the younger brother then ran over his brother’s body as he drove away from the scene.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured later, wounded and bloody, hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban backyard. He is in a federal prison and faces a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction to kill.

The brothers’ mother says the allegations against them are lies.