WATERTOWN, MASS – In less than 24 hours, both suspects of the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects are accounted for. Tamerlan Tsarnaev is dead and Dzhokhar Tsarvaev is in custody.
Police and all kinds of tactical teams, SWAT, State Agents, sharp shooters, National Guard and more, swarmed into the towns of Cambridge and Watertown, Mass early this morning after photos of the 2 bombing suspects released yesterday seemed to set off the second wave of violence, explosions and death.
Mass transit was shut down, MIT and Harvard University were shut down. The citizens were ordered to stay indoors. The schools, public buildings and businesses all over Boston were closed. The entire town of Watertown, Mass was swept as authorities went door to door searching for the second suspect.
This mass effort to apprehend the two suspects started last night MIT officer Sean Collier was shot to death responding to a report of a disturbance on campus.
Then a man was car-jacked by two men. That car-jack victim was able to get away when the men stopped for gas. He ran into a 7-11 store screaming at the worker to call 9/11. Police quickly spotted the stolen car and gave chase. The men in the car were throwing explosives – including an unexploded pressure-cooker device similar to the one used in the Marathon Bombing – out of the car and shooting at police. During the shootings Transit Officer Richard Donahue was seriously injured and taken to the hospital. He’s currently in critical condition.
During a subsequent shoot-out with police, one of the car-jackers, 26 year old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot multiple times. He was also taken to the hospital but was dead from gun shots as well as shrapnel wounds. He was found to have IED’s on his body, as well as a ‘suicide bomb’ vest. The second man, Tsarnaev’s younger brother Dzhokhar, managed to get away.
Things were as tense as they could be all around the town of Watertown as periodic explosions could be heard, gunshots, sirens and helicopters. SWAT teams blanketed the streets and people were locked inside their homes.
Finally this evening, after more than 12 hours of surrounding the whole town, authorities received a call from a man saying that something was “different” about his shed in his back yard, the door was cracked open and he saw blood on the side of his stored boat. He also saw bloody clothes inside the shed. Helicopters hovering over the storage shed were able to use thermal imaging equipment and determine that someone was inside the man’s boat under a tarp. Neighbors said they heard more than 30 shots one likened to “a roll of firecrackers shooting off.” Police swarmed the scene, and several explosions, possibly police concussion grenades, were heard after a robot moved in on the boat.
“We know you’re in there! COME OUT!” was heard as the boat shed was surrounded. They had to act with extreme caution as they weren’t sure if the suspect had more explosives on him. The suspect was unresponsive. Details on how they finally got the teenage terrorist out of the boat and into custody are still unclear but he was finally in the hands of the authorities without any more injuries to any personnel.
19-year old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev has been taken to Mass General Hospital in serious condition. He is “bleeding” according to police but that’s all they are releasing at this time.
The Tsarnaev brothers are naturalized American citizens who were from Chechnya. It’s believed they have been in the states since 2002. FBI investigators are scouring records to find out where and when the suspects might have been radicalized. The other brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, traveled to Russia last year. Around that same time, based on social media comments, emails and youtube postings, the older Tsarnaev dedicated himself to his Islamic religion and openly expressed support for radical Islamic leaders and known terrorists the likes of Osama bin Laden. It still remains unclear what may have motivated the suspects and there’s no word on any organization behind the men and their deadly deeds.
