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Tsarnaev Friend Who Owned Gun Used To Kill Sean Collier To Be Sentenced

BOSTON (AP) — A man who loaned a gun used by the Boston Marathon bombers to kill a police officer is set to be sentenced on drug and gun charges.

Stephen Silva will be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Silva testified during the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev he let Tsarnaev borrow a Ruger 9mm handgun two months before the bombings. He said Dzhokhar told him he wanted it to rob University of Rhode Island students. He also said Dzhokhar "kept coming up with excuses" for why he didn't return the gun.

Prosecutors have said the gun was used by Tsarnaev and his brother to kill MIT police Officer Sean Collier several days after the bombings.

Sean Collier
MIT Police Officer Sean Collier. (Photo credit: U.S. Attorney's Office)

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the 2013 bombings.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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