The Massachusetts man who once possessed the very gun used by the Boston Marathon bombers to kill a police officer will serve six months in prison, a federal court decided.
Twenty-two year-old Merhawi Berhe pleaded guilty to possession of the firearm with “obliterated” serial number in March. He will serve two additional years of supervised release, the Associated Press reported.
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev used the Ruger P95 9mm semi-automatic pistol three days after they set off explosives at the marathon finish line on 15 April 2013, killing three and injuring at least 264.
While on the loose, the two brothers used the handgun kill 27-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier in his patrol car. Mr Collier was shot six times by the brothers, defence attorney for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted during a 2015 hearing.
Armed with the handgun, Tamerlan, 26, the eldest of the two brothers, reportedly used the gun to carjack businessman Dun Meng. Mr Meng testified he was later able to escape the carjacking during a stop at a nearby gas station.
Police recovered the gun after an ensuing gunfight with the brothers, during which Tamerlan was killed. Dzhokhar, 19 at the time, escaped only to be captured a day later in a boat in the nearby town of Watertown.
The gun itself originated in South Portland, Maine, purchased by Danny Sun Jr, according to ABC News. He owned the gun for about a year before passing it along to Biniam “Icy” Tsegai – who later pleaded guilty to drug charges following a federal probe.
Mr Tsegai gave the gun to Mr Berhe in 2012, prior to being caught by federal authorities.
Mr Berhe was identified by Stephen Silva, who said he was Dzhokhar’s “best friend” in testimony. Mr Silva and Mr Berhe reportedly lived in the same neighbourhood.
“He asked me if I could do him a favour and hold down a firearm for him because he needed to get it out of his house,” Mr Silva testified in 2015.
According to Mr Silva’s testimony, Dzhokhar borrowed the gun from him in February 2013, but was always “coming up with excuses” as to why he could not return the firearm.
By the time police recovered the gun, it had been fired some 56 times according to testimony from a Massachusetts state police officer.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty by a federal jury of 30 charges placed against him in April 2015. He was sentenced to death a month later.
