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Friend says he gave Boston Marathon bomber a handgun two months before attack

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
This file photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Federal Bureau of Investigation

BOSTON – A close friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has testified he gave a gun to the Boston Marathon bomber two months before the attack.

Stephen Silva said during testimony Tuesday that he loaned Tsarnaev a P95 Ruger pistol in February 2013.

Silva says he asked Tsarnaev to return the gun to him repeatedly in the weeks before the April 15, 2013, bombing. He says Tsarnaev “made up excuses” for not returning it.

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READ MORE: Grieving father tells jury about his 8-year-old son’s death at Boston Marathon

The bombing killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Three days later, MIT police officer Sean Collier was fatally shot as he sat in his cruiser.

Authorities say the P-95 Ruger was the gun used to kill Collier.

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Tsarnaev’s lawyers say it was Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, who shot Collier.

Silva has a plea deal with prosecutors.

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