Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Fighting With Class Mate

The country's most wanted terrorist suspect was a hunky laid-back pothead before he was exposed as Suspect No. 2 and went on the lam from a gargantuan federal manhunt, friends said yesterday. "He had such grace and everybody loved this kid," said Larry Aaronson, a retired Cambridge Rindge and Latin teacher. "I will say to you, from the depth of my heart, he couldn't have been sweeter. ... He couldn't have been more precious. ... He couldn't have been more gracious, I knew him as nothing but a wonderful kid.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was a standout wrestler at the school and went on to attend UMass Dartmouth. Born in Russia, Dzhokhar led what friends called a relatively "normal" life, immigrating to the U.S. more than a decade ago before filling his teen years with sports, school and friends.

"He came from the heart, deep in the war zone on Chechnya," Aaronson said. "I would talk to him about it and he would say, 'Larry, you just adjust to it and I'm grateful to be here.'"

Friend Ahdi Moro, 22, of Watertown recalled Dzhokhar as "the most popular kid at school. He was a really good-looking kid. He's as American as anybody. He grew up here. He's like a regular Cambridge kid."

Dzhokhar returned often to Rindge and Latin to help train wrestlers, including as recently as six weeks ago.

"He was just smiling as usual," said Essah Chisholm, a 17-year-old senior wrestler. "He was a normal dude. There wasn't anything weird about him."

Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle who lives in Maryland, said his last memory of Dzhokhar in December 2005 was of a "quiet boy." But he told reporters he was disgusted by his nephews' alleged attacks, which he attributed to "being losers, not being able to settle themselves, and thereby just hating everyone who did."

Dzhokhar, others say, often followed the lead of his big brother Tamerlan.

"His younger brother would come to the gym with him, but he wouldn't box; he would do the exercises," said John Curran, a boxing trainer who worked with the elder Tsarnaev. "His younger brother idolized him."

UMass Dartmouth student Austin Hightower said he met Dzhokhar last year. He said Dzhokhar never expressed any political leanings, and the one time he did, it was about Chechnya.

"He said it was a very staunch, nationalistic country," said Hightower. "And that (Chechens in general) are very proud of where they are from."

After an early-morning Facebook post in which he said, "I think I know this guy, but I hope I don't," High­tower said police showed up to whisk him to the state police barracks, where they grilled him for hours on whether Dzhokhar had military training — as well as whether he was a "nice guy."

If anything, he said, he considered Dzhokhar a relaxed kid who "liked the Mary Jane."

"I cannot stress enough just how laid back and cool and chill he was," he said. "Part of me doesn't want to believe this story. He's ­literally like a stick, so I can't even imagine he was a wrestler, let alone a terrorist ­murderer."