Bombs explode at the Boston Marathon

[Tusk]

I know politics might enter into this, but I just wanted to wish that everyone, including our Boston Haliens, stay safe and even though I'm not religious, My thoughts go out to those affected by this terrible act of cowardice.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/...story.html

Although a terrible shock, it could have been much, much worse.

Apparently they found other unexploded devices which hopefully will lead to finding these despicable creatures.....

[My Alter Ego]

Tusk, thanks for bringing this up. Whoever did this (and for whatever the "supposed" rationale) obviously knew that there would be a concentration of people in that particular spot at that particular moment, and "planned" accordingly. Indeed, it was an act of cowardice!

So far, the number who died (2) has not changed since I first learned of this several hours ago. The number of injured continues to increase, although I would think that should change soon.

I love Boston! I've only been there twice -- but, frankly, would love to have the opportunity to live there long enough to thoroughly explore it and the rest of New England to my heart's desire. Thus, it hurts me to the core that someone(s) would do this to Patriot's Day/the Boston Marathon. It will now be forever (if only somewhat) tainted and the security measures for the marathon will now be increased to the point that it may be onerous to all involved. The first time I was in Boston coincided with the marathon, and there was just such a great sense of fun and good spirit. (I remember a man and his son who were staying in the same hotel as my group. I saw them several times throughout Saturday and Sunday, always enthused and enjoying everything. Then I remember seeing that same man slide down the elevator wall, wearing the foil "cloak" given to the runners after they've finished the race. He was proud, but exhausted.) I love that city!!

My heart goes out to the family and friends of those who died. And, I wish a good and full recovery to those injured.

[Miguel]

Police this morning are searching a 20-block area in Watertown for one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects after a violent night during which an MIT Police officer lost his life and a Transit Police officer was seriously wounded in a firefight. The other Boston Marathon bombing suspect, who was wearing a black hat in photos released Thursday evening, is dead after firing bullets and launching explosives at police.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the man now known as Marathon bombing Suspect #2, the man with the white baseball cap who actually dropped the bombs at the race finish line, is the person being sought by a massive collection of federal, state, and municipal police.

http://boston.com/

With gunfire ricocheting around the tranquil neighborhood, residents were later told to go into their basements and stay away from windows.

The pursuit began after 10 p.m. Thursday when two men robbed a 7/11 near Central Square in Cambridge. A security camera caught a man identified as one of the suspects, wearing a gray hoodie.




About 10:30, police received reports that a campus security officer at M.I.T. was shot while he sat in his police cruiser. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a statement issued by Middlesex Acting District Attorney Michael Pelgro, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas, and MIT Police Chief John DiFava. The officer was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A short time later, police received reports of an armed carjacking of a Mercedes SUV by two males in the area of Third Street in Cambridge, the statement said. “The victim was carjacked at gunpoint by two males and was kept in the car with the suspects for approximately a half hour,” the statement said. He was later released, uninjured, at a gas station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.

Police immediately began to search for the vehicle and pursued it into Watertown. During the chase, “explosive devices were reportedly thrown from car by the suspects,” the statement said,and the suspects and police exchanged gunfire in the area of Dexter and Laurel streets.

A Watertown resident, Andrew Kitzenberg, 29, said he looked out his third-floor window to see two young men of slight build in jackets engaged in “constant gunfire” with police officers. A police SUV “drove towards the shooters,” he said, and was shot at until it was severely damaged. It rolled out of control, Mr. Kitzenberg said, and crashed into two cars in his driveway.

The two shooters, he said, had a large, unwieldy bomb that he said looked “like a pressure cooker.”

“They lit it, still in the middle of the gunfire, and threw it. But it went 20 yards at most.” It exploded, he said, and one of the two men ran toward the gathered police officers. He was tackled, but it was not clear if he was shot, Mr. Kitzenberg said.

The explosions, said another resident, Loretta Kehayias, 65, “lit up the whole house. I screamed. I’ve never seen anything like this, never, never, never.”

Meanwhile, the other young man, said Mr. Kitzenberg, got back into the SUV, turned it toward officers and “put the pedal to the metal.” The car “went right through the cops, broke right through and continued west.”

The two men left “a few backpacks right by the car, and there is a bomb robot out there now.” Police had told residents to stay away from their windows, he said.

During this exchange, an MBTA police officer was seriously injured and taken to the hospital.

At the same time, one of the suspects was critically injured with multiple gunshot wounds and taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, where he was pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/us/bos...bings.html

[Tusk]

Boston is basically in lockdown, everything closed even mass transit stopped.....

They killed an MIT police man, car jacked an SUV, held the driver hostage, told him they had just killed a cop, then told him they were the Marathon bombers (news had suspected connections but had not evidence until this, because they let the hostage go and he told police what they told him....
They then got into a fire fight with police, lobbing explosives, a witness who saw it play out in front of him from a second story window said he saw a pressure cooker bomb used, similar to the ones purported to have been used at the marathon, so there is little doubt that these are in fact the bombers....

Preliminary reports say these two are of foreign descent, possibly Chechen, and had been living in the States for over a year....

wild wild stuff as it's unfolding.....Sounds like stuff from a movie......

[Miguel]

---

@4cast4you NBC's Pete Williams says the bombing suspects are likely Chechens who were living in Turkey; 20 & 21 years old. #boston #watertown

AP sources: Boston bomb suspects from Russia region near Chechnya, lived in US at least 1 year.

BREAKING: AP: Surviving Boston bomb suspect identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass.

A google search of his name shows that he is a highschool wrestler and a city scholarship recipient.

[Tusk]

.....apparently brothers
The dead one was said to have been wearing explosives so the reason there is extreme caution and urgency to capture the other as they believe he's probably wearing explosives as well....

[Miguel]

"PIPE BOMB - @ Comm Ave "

EMT's are needed

---

Pipe bomb appears to have come from a cab that was stopped earlier:

"Boston Cab 375, occupied 3x, 1 white male, Middle east driver, middle east passenger. All are on the hood of the car."

[Miguel]

Pete Williams on NBC just reported that there's a third person of interest -- a relative of the two brothers.

[Miguel]

They lifted the lockdown in the last hour.

Dozens of shots were just fired.

Smoke is supposed to be coming from the rear of a boat.

Per police scanner


They're gassing the boat.

Boat may not be on water.

Suspect may be down.

Ambulance request denied.

Police told to back off, let SWAT handle it.

---

FBI may have been checking boat reported to have blood on it when they were fired upon.

---

TV coverage: http://live.foxnews.com/#/1155606219001

[Tusk]

I saw a video of the father of these two saying they've been framed, that's why his oldest son wasn't taken alive and 'executed'. He doesn't believe they are involved and being framed by/in the US.

After they showed the interview, the reporter said, the interview was shortened because shortly after it was being aired, the Russian Police entered the room and took away the Father for questioning ....