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Live Blog: Boston Bombing Suspect Arrested


02:53 UTC: With things winding down following the capture of the second brother believed to be responsible for the bombing at the Boston Marathon Monday, we'll close this live blog. Thank you for following us.

02:25 UTC: People in Boston celebrate the capture of the second bombing suspect:



02:15 UTC: From President Obama's statement:
  • Tonight our nation is in debt to the people of Boston and the people of Massachusetts.
  • Why did young men who grew up and studied here resort to such violence?
  • Whatever they thought they could ultimately achieve ultimately failed.
  • We've closed an important chapter in this tragedy. We will investigate any association these terrorist might have had.
  • The president pointed there was another tragedy in the U.S. this week: "Our thoughts and our prayers are with the people of West, Texas."



01:34 UTC: Updates from the press conference following Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture:
  • Suspect is in serious condition at the hospital.
  • Man went outside of his house after the shelter in place order was lifted. He saw blood on his boat, lifted a tarp on the boat and saw man covered with blood inside. He went back inside and called police.
  • Watertown Police Chief: "It was a call from a resident in Watertown ... We got that call and we got that guy."
  • Boston Police Commisisoner: "The citizens of this city have been incredible"
  • Boston Mayor Menino says "Thank you, thank you, thank you" to law enforcement officials
  • Mass. Mayor Deval Patrick says "Tonight, we'll all rest easier."


01:25 UTC: Police will hold a press conference in about 5 minutes.

01:05 UTC: There are reports that three people in New Bedford, Mass., were arrested today in connection with this investigation. Other media reports indicate the three were only questioned.

01:01 UTC:


00:46 UTC: They got him:


00:45 UTC:
Residents at scene in Watertown and police seen applauding:



00:35 UTC: Boston Globe reports that police are calling to the suspect, urging him to surrender:



00:22 UTC: FBI is said to have interviewd the older of the two suspects regarding extremist ties two years ago at the request of a foreign government.

00:12 UTC:
Area police are focusing on is on Franklin Street in Watertown. This Google map shows the home, including a boat trailer in the backyard.


View Larger Map



And here's an image from Bing that shows the boat from ground level.

00:06 UTC: Media reports and police scanner suggest police have fired stun grenades and possibly tear gas into boat where suspect is believed to be hiding.


23:22 UTC: According to media reports and Boston police scanner, latest activity seems to be centered around a boat in a yard in Watertown.


23:05 UTC: Watertown residents again told to shelter in place:



23:01 UTC: Multiple news organizations report shots fired in Watertown area where suspect was being hunted. Police vehicles could be seen racing past CNN reporter soon afterward.

22:44 UTC: INTERPOL issues global security alert in connection with Boston marathon bombings

22:42 UTC: News from the recent press conference:

  • Police believe Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still in Massachusetts.
  • The suspects are not believed to have been responsible for the convenience store robbery, though it appears they were at the store before the shootout that killed one of the brothers.
  • Police and the suspects fired about 200 rounds during shootout.
  • The surviving suspect fled on foot.
  • The head of the Mass. State Police urged the suspect "to give himself up."


22:30 UTC: People in Boston can go outside again:


22:16 UTC: Article on Quartz: "We know when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sleeps"

Less than 12 hours ago, we had never heard of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Now we know that he did not like haircuts but did like Game of Thrones among other things, via Twitter.

22:11 UTC: Bombing suspect’s tweet on tragedy: ‘stay safe people’


21:35 UTC:
Reporters from all over the world covering this story in Boston.


21:15 UTC: Reuters story: "My boys have been framed," father of Boston suspects says.

The father of the Boston bomb suspects, Anzor Tsaraev, speaks to the media at his home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in southern Russia, April 19, 2013.
The father of the Boston bomb suspects, Anzor Tsaraev, speaks to the media at his home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in southern Russia, April 19, 2013.

A man who identified himself as the father of two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings said on Friday he believed his sons had been framed and pleaded with police to spare his younger son who was still on the run.

Sitting on an unmade bed in his home in Dagestan's provincial capital Makhachkala, Anzor Tsarnaev, defended his sons' innocence.

“Somebody clearly framed them. I don't know who exactly framed them, but they did. They framed them. And they were so cowardly that they shot the boy dead,” he told Reuters, clasping his head in despair.

“I'm scared for my boy - that they will shoot him dead too,” said the thin man in a black-and-blue sweater. “They should arrest him, bring him in, alive. And the judicial system should investigate everything, who's right and who's guilty.”


20:41 UTC: A photo of the bombing suspect who remains at large fleeing Monday's explosions was authenticated by the AP:


20:38 UTC: No baseball in Boston, as the manhunt continues:


20:18 UTC: VOA's Russian service spoke to the aunt of the two suspects, Maret Tsarnaeva, who lives in Toronto, Canada. She is demanding to see evidence that her nephews were involved.

Tsarnaeva described both brothers as normal and good people who never stood against anything.

She described the younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is on the run, as an angel who would not hurt anyone.

She said the older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police, was married to a Christian woman and had a daughter. She said this shows he accepted all religions.

20:11 UTC: Some positivity from those who have been under stressful conditions in and around Boston today.

Harvard University's student newspaper shares this video of students showing their appreciation for "the dining hall staff who came to work despite the manhunt for a suspected Boston Marathon Bomber."



And this photo from Boston Globe reporter Dave Abel


19:17 UTC: The father of the two suspects, Anzor Tsarnaev, has spoken to ABC News from his home in the Russian city of Makhachkala. Here's the video.

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18:55 UTC:


18:45 UTC: The continued manhunt has silenced the normally bustling streets of Boston.



And turned the normally quiet streets of suburban Watertown into what looks like a military zone.


18:12 UTC: Reuters news agency has released a timeline of events over the past day.

* Thursday, about 5:10 p.m. Eastern time
- The FBI announces law enforcement has identified two men suspected of planting the pressure cooker bombs that killed three people and injured 176 at the Boston Marathon on Monday. Video footage released by the FBI show a man known as suspect No. 1 wearing a dark baseball cap. He was later identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.
Suspect No. 2, later identified as Tsarnaev's brother, Dzhokhar, 19, was wearing a white cap backwards in the images. The 30 second videos are played repeatedly on national television, and photographs of the suspects are posted online.
* Thursday night at 9:04 p.m.
- Russian language social networking site VK shows someone logged for the last time out of what appears to be Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's page. The site had been accessed via mobile device.
* Thursday night around 10:20 p.m.
- Shots are fired at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. At some point, two men rob a convenience store on campus.
* 10:30 p.m.
- Police discover MIT campus police officer Sean Collier, 26, shot multiple times in his car in an apparent confrontation with the suspects. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and pronounced dead.
* Shortly after 10:30 p.m.
- Police say the two brothers carjack a Mercedes SUV. The owner of the car is held hostage for about a half hour, but is then released. Police chase the SUV into the Boston suburb of Watertown. During the chase, the suspects throw explosives from the car and exchange gunfire with police.
A transit police officer is hurt in the shootout. Witnesses report hearing dozens of gunshots.Tamerlan Tsarnaev is hit during the shootout. He is taken
into custody, transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and later pronounced dead.
* Before 1 a.m. Friday
- A huge manhunt is launched for the second suspect and hundreds of police officers and FBI agents descend on Watertown.
* Between 3 and 4 a.m.
- Massachusetts police announce they will conduct a door-to-door search in Watertown. Citizens are warned to stay indoors.
* Around 5:30 a.m.
- Train service in Boston is suspended.
* 8 a.m.
- Massachusetts officials announce they have expanded the shelter-in-place recommendations for the entire city of Boston, effectively putting the city in lockdown as they search for Tsarnaev.

18:09 UTC: Shelter in Place sign in Boston

A sign calling for citizens of Boston to "Shelter in Place" is shown on I-93 in Boston on April 19, 2013.
A sign calling for citizens of Boston to "Shelter in Place" is shown on I-93 in Boston on April 19, 2013.

18:02 UTC: Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about the drama unfolding in Boston during a joint press conference with the foreign secretary of Mexico.

"As a father and a grandfather, my thoughts are, of course, in my hometown right now, Boston, where events are still unfolding and the entire city is on lockdown. We’re continuing to learn more every moment about the terror attack on Monday and the pursuit of justice that is following it. I think it’s fair to say that for this entire week, we’ve been in a pretty direct confrontation with evil, and I want to congratulate and thank all the law enforcement authorities for the extraordinary job that they have been doing on behalf of our citizens."

17:56 UTC: The aunt of the at large suspect is speaking to the media in Toronto, Canada. She said the family of the suspects came to the U.S. in 2002.
She said the father of the two suspects would not be able to speak right now, apparently referring to a sense of shock he must be feeling.

17:44 UTC: In a post on Instagram, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, dismissed any connection between his republic and the Tsarnaev brothers.

He wrote, "Any attempts to draw a parallel between Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if they are guilty, are futile. They grew up in the U.S., and their views and beliefs were formed there. The roots of the evil should be looked for in America."

Map of Chechnya. Click to enlarge
Map of Chechnya. Click to enlarge
17:27 UTC: Russia condemns all "terrorists'' regardless of their nationality, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Friday reports Reuters news agency.

"They all deserve to be rejected,'' spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the southern Russian city of Sochi, adding that the Russian authorities were waiting for official information from the United States on the dead man and a suspected accomplice.

17:20 UTC: VOA's Celia Mendoza spoke with Derek Winbush, an 18-year-old former classmate of at large suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Derek Winbush, 18, said that he went to gym class with the suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Derek Winbush, 18, said that he went to gym class with the suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Winbush, who lives in the suburban Boston area where the manhunt is underway, said Tsnarnaev was an average kid and a good student. Winbush described him as "a nice guy" who never spoke about terrorism.

1650 UTC: Impromptu tributes to Sean Collier, the police officer killed in the standoff at MIT, are emerging on the street where he lived, according to Boston Globe reporter Dave Abel.


16:36 UTC: The chief of Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Allen says there has been no "apprehension" so far, referring to the suspect at large. He also warned of a controlled explosion this afternoon. All officials also renewed the call for Boston residents to stay indoors.

16:34 UTC: Mayor Thomas Menino, Governor Deval Patrick are updating the press on the manhunt. The mayor said officials will keep the public informed as is possible. He thanked the public and said "we are going to get through this."

16:25 UTC: The Boston Globe has put together a mapped timeline of the ongoing manhunt, starting with a robbery at 10pm Thursday night and showing how it led to where we are now.

16:19 UTC: Officials release more information on
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev
:

U.S. law enforcement officials say the two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing are legal U.S. residents of Chechen background, identified as 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The elder brother died from wounds sustained during a shootout with police. Dzhokhar, the suspect wearing a white hat in pictures released after the marathon bombings, is known as "Suspect Two" to police, who said he is armed and dangerous.

The brothers were believed to be living legally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and have at least one sister.

A young Chechen who lives in Boston and knew the family said in an interview with VOA's Russian Service that the Tsarnaev family lived mainly in Central Asia before coming to the U.S. more than eight years ago.

Multiple sources, including Temirmagomed Davudov, a school headmaster in Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan, say the Tsarnaevs are originally from Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen ethnicity. The headmaster said the two Tsarnaev brothers attended his school and left for the United States in 2002.

16:00 UTC:

Some additional information on the suspects:

PRI reporter Robin Young says her nephew is friends with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect being hunted by police, describing him as a "beautiful boy." A Buzzfeed article quotes several people who the reporters say attended the Cambridge Ringe and Latin School with the suspect. "In fact, as recently as November, I played pick-up basketball with him and he seemed like he was doing great at UMASS Dartmouth," they quote one former classmate as saying.
» Full article

The other suspect, Dzokhar's older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police this morning, was featured in a photo essay, which portrays him as a dedicated boxer pursuing hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team.

15:43 UTC: Tsarni again called on the hunted suspect to turn himself in. He said he has brought shame to all Chechens. The uncle then said the suspect, his nephew, should beg for forgiveness from the families of the victims, and to "kneel down in front of them."

15:28 UTC: Tsarni also urged the suspect at large to turn himself into police. He said they have brought shame to the family.

Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, speaks with the media outside his Maryland home.
Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, speaks with the media outside his Maryland home.


15:26 UTC: The suspect's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, who identifies himself as their father's brother speaking to reporters outside his house in the Washington DC suburbs says the family is Muslim and that they are ethnic Chechens.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, right of picture, was shot dead by Boston police early Friday morning. His younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, left, remains at large. REUTERS
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, right of picture, was shot dead by Boston police early Friday morning. His younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, left, remains at large. REUTERS
15:07 UTC: Reuters news agency reports President Barack Obama was briefed by his top security and counter-terrorism advisers on developments in the Boston bombing manhunt and investigation for about an hour in the White House Situation Room on Friday, the White House said.

15:00 UTC:

Journalist Adam Gabbatt of The Guardian shares this video of media at the scene being told to get back for their safety


14:47 UTC:

The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth is evacuating students. Earlier the university reported in a press release that "a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth."
14:44 UTC:
14:41 UTC:

Reuters reports that Connecticut state police are seeking a vehicle that could be occupied by a person possibly linked to Boston bombing case.

14:35 UTC:


14:30 UTC:

Disbelief from many after hours of lockdown.



14:10 UTC:

Boston Police are asking media and social media users not to reveal the locations of operations.


The situation so far:

Parts of Boston are on lockdown as police in the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts conduct a massive manhunt for one of the suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombings, after killing the other one in a shootout late Thursday.

Residents have been urged to stay in their homes with the doors locked, public transit service has been suspended and all schools and universities are closed. Officials have shut down airspace over Boston.


Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the situation is "serious," and he asked the public to also take it seriously as well. In Washington, President Obama was being briefed this morning on the situation in Boston, a White House official said.


Boston police have identified the suspect at large as 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a town outside of Boston. They say he is considered "armed and dangerous."

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The suspects were driving a carjacked Mercedes SUV and police chased them after they were called to the scene of a robbery in Cambridge, across the river from Boston. Campus police officer Sean Collier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was killed during the incident.

Police say explosive devices were thrown at them from the fleeing car, and in an exchange of gunfire one of the suspects was shot, while the other fled in the vehicle.
Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, walks into his home in Maryland.
Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, walks into his home in Maryland.
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