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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Second Boston Bombing Suspect Captured

BOSTON (CN) - Police captured the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, hiding in a boat in a back yard. Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, was wounded but alive.

A homeowner in Watertown called police after seeing a tarp loose over his boat, with blood on it. They evacuated the family and captured Tsarnaev, after shots were fired.

Tsarnaev may have been hiding out in the boat all day since fleeing Cambridge after a firefight that left an MIT officer and his brother dead, NBC reported.

The Middlesex County District Attorney's Office said gunshots had been reported to police on Thursday at 10:20 p.m. Officers found MIT officer Sean Collier, 26, shot in his car 10 minutes later. Collier, of Somerville, Mass., had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead after arrival at Massachusetts General Hospital.

CBS reported that the brothers may have killed Collier after they saw the officer on his cellphone and believed he had identified them and was calling them in.

The Tsarnaevs then reportedly hijacked a car in Cambridge, and held the driver captive for half an hour while they tried to use the man's cash card to get money from ATMs.

After letting the driver go unharmed, they sped toward Watertown and attracted the attention of police. They reportedly chucked explosives at the officers during the high-speed chase, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev then apparently got out of the car with a bomb strapped to his chest.

CBS said officers shot him down after he threw a pressure-cooker bomb at them. Dzhokar drove over his brother's body as he fled the scene, CBS reported. He later abandoned the car in Watertown and fled on foot.

Transit officer Richard Donahue, 33, reportedly suffered a single gunshot wound in the firefight and remains in critical condition at a Cambridge hospital.

On Friday morning, authorities shut down the MBTA subway, rail and bus services today, and asked people to stay home in the suburbs of Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Cambridge and Allston-Brighton.

In addition to business closures, the Red Sox and the Bruins, both of which were supposed to play in Boston on Friday night, called off their games.

Thousands of commuters were stranded at Boston-area bus and train stops.

Media outlets are reporting that the Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who arrived in the United States over a decade ago as refugees from Kyrgyzstan.

Dzhokar Tsarnaev reportedly became a citizen on Sept. 11, 2012, and was naturalized. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was reportedly not naturalized but was in the country legally.

NBC News said the men may have military experience.

Their capture came shortly after the FBI and police released photos and video of them carrying backpacks at the Boston Marathon. The explosions near the finish line killed three and injured more than 170.

Initial reports that the men had tried to rob a convenience store on Thursday night were retracted.

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