tamerlan tsarnaev befriended a brain - damaged anti - u.s. government conspiracy theorist through their mother 's health care aide job years before the deadly attack , a lawyer said tuesday .
rosenberg said tuesday the tsarnaev brothers got to know larking while substituting for their mother sometimes by helping to care for his wife .
tamerlan tsarnaev discovered some of the radical publications by chance .
article excerpt boston — extremist u.s. newspapers and other publications found in the apartment of boston marathon bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev reveal a broad interest in far - flung conspiracy theories , well beyond the islamist radicalism authorities allege motivated the attack .
rosenberg said larking , who lives in west newton , just west of boston , was shot in the head in 1974 in an attempted robbery while working in a convenience store .
rosenberg said tuesday he does n't think larking helped the tsarnaev brothers , ethnic chechens from russia , formulate ideas but may have made them believe others felt as they
the attorney said the brothers " were very helpful , very kind " to the couple and larking , who has many jewish friends , also has literature that questions if the holocaust happened .
the attorney said the tsarnaev family had a relationship with the larkings that started years ago when the brothers ' mother began working as a personal care assistant for larking 's wife , a quadriplegic since birth .
authorities say the tsarnaev brothers orchestrated the april 15 marathon bombing , in which two pressure cookers loaded with shrapnel exploded near the race 's finish line , killing three people and injuring more than 260 others .