Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow speaks of shock through attorneys

(CBS News) The widow of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev went into hiding Friday, after her identity became known. Now, she's breaking her silence, releasing a statement through her lawyers.

Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva last saw her husband in their Cambridge apartment just a few hours before he was killed in a fierce firefight with police. She's now holed up in her parents' home in suburban Rhode Island and cooperating with the investigation, according to her lawyers.

Tsarnaeva says she had no idea her husband was capable of something like this. Miriam Weizenbaum, attorney for Tsarnaeva, said, "The reports of involvement by her husband and brother-in-law came as an absolute shock to them all."

Hounded by the media, the 24-year-old home health aide finds herself trying to answer the same questions the rest of the world has about the man she married in 2010, the father of her 3-year-old daughter.

Amato DeLuca, an attorney for Tsarnaeva, said, "They too struggle to come to terms with these events and the deep sorrow we all feel following the events of last week."

Raised a Christian, she met Tamerlan Tsarnaev at a nightclub in 2007. At the time, she was a communications student at Suffolk University. Tsarnaeva later dropped out of school, converted to Islam, and married Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a 15-minute ceremony witnessed by just two people.

Her former roommate told CBS News Tamerlan Tsarnaev was often violent with Katherine Tsarnaeva, and was arrested for assaulting her in 2009.

Katherine Tsarnaeva and her two younger sisters grew up in a quiet cul-de-sac in Rhode Island. Their mother works in social services, and their father is an emergency room doctor.

Neighbors said all appeared normal whenever she visited. Neighbor Paula Gilette said, "I've seen the baby -- she looks like a toddler age -- a couple of times, just playing in the yard, and things like that."

Weizenbaum said, "Katie deeply mourns the pain and loss to innocent victims, students, law enforcement officers, families, and our community."

A friend of the couple says that when Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Tsarnaeva first met, he was outgoing and liked going to clubs and drinking alcohol. But as he became more and more religious, he often lectured her and her friends about drinking and having sex. The friend also said she thought Katherine Tsarnaeva was "brainwashed" into converting to Islam.

Watch Terrell Brown's full report above.