A federal grand jury on Thursday handed down a 30-count indictment against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is suspected of being the co-author of the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon.

The 19-year-old stands accused of three murders for the two bombs he planted along with his late brother, Tamerlan, at the race finish line and for the shooting death of an MIT campus police officer on the night they began their flight from law enforcement, three days later.

Seventeen of the charges levied against the surviving suspect, including those involving the "use of a weapon of mass destruction," could result in the death penalty or life in prison.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arraignment is set for July 10 in a federal district court in Boston.

The Justice Department said that Dzhokhar is accused of conspiring with Tamerlan, 27, to fashion homemade explosives using gunpowder and shrapnel and to detonate them at the Marathon's finish line.

Three people died in the attack and about 280 were wounded, many of them losing limbs.

Three days after the double attack, the FBI published photos of the suspects. The police pressure led the brothers to begin a spectacular escape attempt through Boston, which resulted in the older brother's death and Dzhokhar's arrest, albeit with serious injuries.

The indictment included the confession a badly wounded Dzhohkar allegedly scrawled on the inside of the boat where police ultimately found him.

"The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians. I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one, you hurt us all. Stop killing our innocent people, we will stop," the message reads. EFE