Cambridge man sentenced for possession of gun used to kill Sean Collier

A Cambridge man was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for possession of the gun later used by the Tsarnaev brothers to kill MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, the US Attorney said.

Merhawi Berhe, 22, was sentenced in US District Court in Boston to six months in prison with two years of supervised release. In March 2016, Berhe pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, the office of US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement.

In January 2013, Berhe had the Ruger P95 9mm semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number in his possession before transferring the weapon to another individual, Ortiz’s office said.

That individual subsequently gave the gun to Stephen Silva, who then provided it to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Ortiz’s office said.

The handgun was used by Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, to murder Sean Collier on April 18. 2013, several days after the Boston Marathon bombings.