One Boston Marathon bombing suspect dead, other still at large: authorities
Last Updated: 9:34 AM, April 19, 2013
One of the men suspected in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings is dead, and the other remains at large this morning as authorities have surrounded a Watertown home.
The AP has reported that the two men are brothers, an uncle of the pair told the news agency.
AP
FBI photos show the men suspected in Monday's Boston Marathon bombings. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who has been called "Suspect No. 1" at left has died, officials said, while Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, known as "Suspect No. 2," (right) remains at large.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who has been referred to as "Suspect No. 1" and was seen wearing sunglasses and a black cap in video and pictures – was wounded in a shootout with police, and later died at the hospital.
His younger brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, who has been referred to “Suspect No. 2,” seen wearing a backwards white cap over his shaggy hair, is still on the loose, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said in an early-morning press conference. Law enforcement officials are conducting a manhunt to find him.
Officials have swarmed a Watertown home on Quimby and Willow Park. There are about 50 officers outside the home as well as a large SWAT truck with an officer manning a gun on the turret of the truck.
More authorities are armed with what appear to be assault rifles and shotguns.
An officer is on a megaphone saying "If you're in there, come out."
The authorities have forced a one-block perimeter around the home and everyone has been evacuated from their homes.
There appears to be at least three law enforcement helicopters circling the area.
Officials conducted a controlled explosion outside the home this morning.
Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19
Google Earth
A map of the Watertown neighborhood where SWAT teams and other agencies have swarmed a home.
The suspects were identified as hailing from the Russian region near Cechnya - and they've been living legally in the US for at least one year, the AP reports.
A man who has been identified as their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, called Tamberlan "a loser."
"I have heard he has not been in school."
The father of the suspects claims that his son who is still on the loose is a smart and accomplished young man.
Anzor Tsarnaev spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala on Friday after police said one of his sons, 26-year-old Tamerlan, had been killed in a shootout and the other, Dzhokhar, was being intensely pursued.
The FBI released a new photo Friday of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
"My son is a true angel," the elder Tsarnaev said. "Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here."
Ahidi Moros, who lives near Melendi and Nichols Ave., said he went to high school with the pair.
"I can't believe this is happening. I'm really not over it. They couldn't speak English when they first got here. I need to clear my head."
Details are rapidly coming in from various sources as new information becomes available.
TV reports show a very heavy police presence as the federal courthouse just after 7:30 a.m.
Gov. Deval Patrick said today that a shelter in place order is underway for the entire city of Boston as well as Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge and Allston-Brighton.
The announcements followed a bizarre and bloody series of events that started with the fatal shooting of a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology late last night and continued with a massive police confrontation with two of the shooting suspects in the nearby city of Watertown.
Sources told The Post that two men were involved in the killing of the MIT officer at 10:48 p.m. They then carjacked a Mercedes-Benz and made their getaway.
The suspects in the MIT shooting then got into a gun battle with police. There were also reports of explosive devices found in Watertown.
During the firefight, a second police officer was struck by bullets and taken to the hospital, Davis said.
Hospital officials said the deceased suspect's body featured a combination of gunshot wounds and blast-related injuries.
While one suspect was killed, the other got away. Officials are urging nearby residents to stay indoors - and not to pick up any strangers on the side of the road.
All public transportation in and around Watertown, including Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service, was also suspended as a safety measure, Mass. Emergency Management Director Kurt Schwartz said.
Amtrak has also suspended service in the are, according to TV reports.
"We are hoping that as the hours proceed that we will be able to turn back on portions of the system," Schwartz said. "The system has been shut down now as a safety measure.we are asking people not to wait for public transportation. If you are waiting at a public bus or train station please go home."
Nearby schools such as Boston University also canceled classes, and businesses are urged to remain closed.
Davis called the suspect a "terrorist ... who came here to kill people."
Three people were killed and 176 were injured in Monday's bombings, which punctured the innocence of Boston's Patriots' Day celebrations.
The men were spotted walking down Boylston Street toward the marathon finish line shortly before the pressure-cooker blasts launched shrapnel through the helpless crowd.
The man identified as Suspect No. 1 wore a black jacket, a white shirt, a black hat, khakis and sunglasses. He had a black backpack and appeared to be wearing a Bridgestone golf cap.
Suspect No. 2 wore a backward, white, adjustable baseball cap and carried a lighter-colored backpack over his right shoulder.
“As you can see from one of the images, Suspects 1 and 2 appear to be walking together through the marathon crowd on Boylston Street in the direction of the finish line,” DesLauriers said.
Suspect No. 2 set down his backpack in front of the Forum restaurant, an upscale bar and grill where the second bomb went off, at around 2:50 p.m., feds say.
A photo obtained by The Post shows the suspect at that scene before the blast — with tragic little victim Martin Richard, 8, standing to the left on a police barrier.
Suspect No. 1 was not seen on any of the footage dropping his backpack, authorities said.
In another photo, posted online, a person who closely resembles Suspect No. 2 is seen calmly walking from the mayhem as smoke fills the air in the background. The man who took the photo told CNN last night that the FBI had seen it.
“Only one we believe to be planting the device is suspect Number 2,” said DesLauriers. “Suspect Number 2, with the white cap on, proceeded west on Boylston Street, and that’s all we know right now.”
The killers used crude bombs made from pressure cookers that were stuffed with ball bearings, nails and other metal items.
At least one of the devices was powered with a rechargeable Tenergy battery that is typically used in such children’s toys as remote-control cars.
FBI agents, in fact, went to several toy stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to ask about the battery, employees told ABC News.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last night that a victim who lost both legs in the attack — and who was photographed being wheeled from the scene in a now-iconic photo — provided evidence while still in intensive care.
Jeff Bauman awoke in the hospital and asked for a pen and paper on which he wrote: “bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,” his brother, Chris, said.
Bauman then gave the feds a full description of the man he saw drop a bag at this feet. He said the man wore a cap and sunglasses, a description similar to the image of the FBI’ s Suspect No. 1, his brother said.
Mark Abbamonte, 26, told The Post he was in lockdown at his Watertown home and could see police evacuating people down the street and checking their home.
Abbamonte said the overnigh firefight happend just three blocks from his home and "could see all the explosions from my house."
"I woke up on the third explosion; my roommate heard three explosions. There were so many [gunshots] I couldn't even count. I heard cops yelling to someone to , 'get on you knees.'"
"It woke me up, I heard [te explosion] and panicked, I didn't know what it was. I thought it was fire crackers, but with what happened in Boston Monday I knew it could be something."
"I just hope they catch the second suspect. I'm calmer than I was a few hours ago, but I'm running on adrenaline. It's been a long night."
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario, Josh Margolin, David K. Li and Dan Good
