MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ziberov and Najjar were set to attend the graduation ceremony on Tuesday, but the two were killed brutally on Monday with over 20 shots, with the police and relatives scrambling for any clues as to what happened.
Monday Night
Yulia Tewelow, Ziberov's mother, told RT that the police had not shared much with the families of the two teens.
"The only thing [the police] said was that it was, most likely, not an accident. Nobody fires off 22 bullets by accident. This is some sort of a lesson or they found themselves there accidentally… A similar car in a wrong place at the wrong time," Tewelow said.
William Tewelow, the teen's stepfather, said that the police did not tell him the exact number of shots fired and there could be more than 22. According to him, there could also be more than one type of bullet.
Mr. Tewelow said that he had known Artem since the boy was nine years old and had come to love him as his own son.
According to media reports, Ziberov and Najjar were found in a car in a cul-de-sac in Montgomery Village, a quiet Washington suburb, with the police arriving at the scene shortly before the 11 p.m. local time [3:00 Tuesday GMT].
Ziberov's mother told RT that the teens took Najjar's car and went out some time after 6 p.m. When she wrote to her son to come home close to 2 a.m., he did not text back, nor did he pick up or call back when his mother called, which, according to her, was an unusual occurrence for him.
The police have asked anyone with information to call. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that would help solve the case.
The Russian Embassy in the United States has contacted the State Department asking for information on the tragedy.
Worried About Future
Mrs. Tewelow told RT that her son was in an internship program that allows 12th-grade students to work and study and have a car.
"In the last weeks, he has been telling me that he is worried about paying for the car, the insurance, the trip to Moscow in July. He had not talked about that earlier. Lately, he had been saying 'I am very worried'," the teen's mother told the broadcaster.
According to media reports, Ziberov was an honors student, planning to study at the University of Maryland.
Mrs. Tewelow told RT that she herself and her son had Russian citizenship. The boy would be buried in Moscow, while the memorial service was held in a Russian Orthodox church in Maryland.
The teen's mother said that she witnessed the outpouring of grief and sympathy for the family on Facebook.
