Final Project: Boston Bombing Newspaper Article

Boston Bombings Newspaper Write Up

            At 2:49 pm on April 15^th, 2013 during the annual Boston Marathon, two bombs were detonated and shocked not only the city of Boston, but also the entire United States of America.

 The blasts from these two bombs killed three people and injured 264. Amongst the 264 injured people, 17 of them were in critical condition, and at least 10 of them had limbs amputated as a result of the blast, according to CNN.

“ Shock. Sadness. Horror. Terrorism.” Those are the first thoughts that Americans had when they heard the news of the Boston Marathon bombing, according to a new “YouGov” poll conducted by the Huffington post. People’s initial reaction to the Boston marathon bombings showcased how taken back people were by news of this tragedy.

            Boston law officials also seemed to be shocked and taken back by this atrocious occurrence. In the earliest stages of the post-bombing aftermath, CBS reported that a man that had been “acting suspiciously” running from the scene had been tackled by civilians, and turned over to the Boston police. This man, however, was said to have been very cooperative and clearly in no way involved with the bombings.

            It wasn’t until late Thursday night, April 18^th, that police actually had a real lead on who could have been responsible for the horrific Boston Marathon bombings. The Huffington post reported that at about 10:20 pm, according to the Huffington Post, while responding to a disturbance on campus, MIT police officer Sean Collier was shot down and killed by two suspects. Not long after reports of the shooting, there were reports of an armed carjacking, again by 2 male suspects.

            In a search for those two suspects, Boston police found themselves in Watertown, where they spotted the stolen vehicle. Not too long after finding the vehicle, were the police officers on the scene engaged in a gunfight with the two male suspects, identified to be the Tsarneaev Brothers. In this hail of gunfire, one of the alleged suspects, 26-year-old Tomerlan Tsarnaev, was shot and killed while his younger brother, 19-year-old Dhaka Tsarnaev, fled the scene and escaped from police.

            Following the events that took place on the night of April 18^th into the morning of April 19^th, Boston police began a “manhunt” for the suspect, Dochart, who escaped after the shootout. During this manhunt, the Huffington Post reports that Boston enforced a complete lockdown of the city, meaning that the entire public transportation network, outside selected taxi services, was suspended. Amtrak service to and from Boston was suspended as well. Watertown, the town where the shootout occurred, had strict temporary regulations placed on them as well. Police cordoned off a 20-block radius of the town, as they went door to door inquiring about the at large suspect.

            The manhunt and lockdown came to an end later that evening, when Dhaka Tsarnaev was found hiding in a small boat in the backyard of a Watertown residence and immediately taken into custody by Boston police.

Dhaka Tsarnaev is currently in custody and under intense US government questioning.