Man who loaned gun to Boston Marathon bombers sentenced to time served

dimeji akinloye

December 22, 2015 7:22 PM

He testified in March that he lent that gun, a Ruger P95, to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who told him he wanted it to rob college students in Rhode Island.

A photo entered as evidence shows a Ruger semi-automatic handgun in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in this handout photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, Massachusetts on March 17, 2015.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf sentenced Stephen Silva, who was arrested in July 2014, to time served plus three years' supervised release for the charges that he pleaded guilty to last year.

Silva was not accused of playing any role in the April 15, 2013, bombing at the Boston Marathon finish line, which killed three people and injured 264, but admitted having possessed a handgun with its serial number filed off.

He testified in March that he lent that gun, a Ruger P95, to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who told him he wanted it to rob college students in Rhode Island.

Tsarnaev was found guilty in April of carrying out the bombing attack along with his older brother, as well as shooting dead Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier three days later. Tsarnaev's older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, died following a gunfight with police later that night.

Silva's twin brother, Steven, erupted in applause when the sentence was read out and was escorted from the courtroom.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month sentence, citing the defendant's cooperation in the bombing investigation.

dimeji akinloye