Alina Tsarnaeva Calls Marathon Bombing Suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev ‘Brothers': ‘They Were Great People’

A New Jersey woman who has identified herself as the sister of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, said she can’t make sense of their alleged involvement in the violent actions in Massachusetts.

FBI agents arrived at the apartment building of Alina Tsarnaeva at approximately 11:00 a.m. Friday morning, according to NJ.com. Tsarnaeva initially refused to identify herself to reporters, but public records showed that she shared the same name as the two suspects, one of whom was fatally shot Friday morning. Dzhokhar, 19, remains on the loose.

Alina said that she had not seen either of the brothers in years but described them as “great people” and said she couldn’t understand what had happened. “They were great people. I never would have expected it,” Tsarnaeva said. “They are smart -- I don’t know what’s gotten into them.”

When asked by reporters if she was “OK,” Tsarnaeva, who stood alongside a man who said he was her husband, responded that she was not. “No I’m not OK; no one is OK right now,” she said. “I’m hurt for everyone who has been hurt. I’m sorry for all the people who are hurt and for all the people who lost their lives.”

Of her younger brother, Dzhokar, Alina had little to say except, “He’s an amazing child.”

The Jersey Journal reported that federal agents had blocked off the street outside the two-story apartment building to keep out the public and that all the blinds in the building were shut.

Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of the two suspects who lives in Makhachkala, Russia, said that he had spoken to his sons after the attack and begged them to turn themselves in to the police. “Give up. Give up. You have a bright future ahead of you. Come home to Russia,” their father said.

“If they kill my second child, I will know that it is an inside job, a hit job. The police are to blame,” he told ABC News. “Someone, some organization is out to get them.”