Suspect #2
Last night I was poking around the FindBostonBombers section on Reddit and was looking again at all the work they had done. Out of the blue, someone said that they heard over the Boston Police scanner that they had a lead where the 2 bombing suspects lived. It was about 9:00 PM. It was a place in Allston right near my girlfriend's apartment. I turned on the scanner and heard the same thing. For the next hour we listened for news on the scanner but did not hear anything. They had changed frequeuncies and were not using the public lines.
On twitter there were multiple reports of that area being shut down by police. There were also reports of a large area of Cambridge being blocked off. Nobody knew why. It ended up that it was because of an armed robbery at a 7-11.
Around that time we heard a cop yell "Officer down!" on the scanner. It was repeated a few times. We found out quickly he was an MIT cop and it may have been related to a robbery at a 7-11. But then we hear two different descriptions of the suspects and Cambridge Police say the crimes are unrelated.
They started on a foot chase of the suspects where scanner reports included the suspects jumping out a 2nd floor balcony. And there were many police officers closing in on the scene. He or they were seen running towards the Red Line so they put cops in every station. Things started to calm down at that point.
Then they announced the MIT cop had died. Just terrible.
It was about 12:30… and then it got really crazy…. A report broke that there was a carjacking at the Shell station on Memorial Drive by 2 armed "middle eastern looking men". They were supposedly "headed to New York."
I start texting my girlfriend more details as she is out in California. She starts following more closely on Twitter and we are texting like crazy.
At this point there's no connection between the 7-11 robbery, the murder of the MIT cop, and the car jacking. But some of us are thinking… this can't be a coincidence.
A few minutes later on the scanner an officer screamed that they are in Watertown and they are under fire from rifles and grenades! That was the first time folks started thinking this could be the bombers. All hell was breaking loose. Cops calling in from all over the places, lots of sounds of gun fire. Officers on the scanner reported at one point that the suspects stole a Police SUV. A report came in that they caught one of the suspects but they were running all over the area trying to find the other one or ones.
I emailed a friend who lives in that area around 1:00 to see if they are OK.
I'm listening to the scanner, the TV is on channel 7 as they are live in Watertown, and I'm checking Twitter obsessively. There were lots of great tweets from folks. I'm talking to friends in Waltham, NY, and a few other places. El Presidente was the best though. Viva la Stool!
Then a report they caught the 2nd suspect. Which was followed up a while later that the other suspect was still on the loose. So they started hunting him house by house. There was nothing for a while. They thought he had fled the area and started sending messages out to Cambridge and Brighton to be on the lookout for an armed and dangerous man.
It was about 2:15AM at this point, and I realize I can't go to sleep until this guy is caught. From where he was last seen, its about 2 miles away from where I live and I figure if there was ever a time to be vigilant, a good time is when there's a known terrorist, armed with an assault rifle and grenades, running from the cops who don't know where he is, and he's fairly close to you.
It sounds like the some of the police are having trouble navigating the area. They've shut off their cell phones for fear of setting off the bombs. Many are from Boston and the Transit Authority and don't know the area. Since they don't have their phones on, they no longer have Google Maps at their disposal.
I hear back at 2:50 from my friend in Watertown. They are good.
We get confirmation that these are very likely the bombers.
[ENDED UP NOT BEING TRUE –>] So then… it gets crazier! We hear from multiple sources including BuzzFeed that the suspect on the run is Sunil Tripathi, the missing Brown student. My girlfriend has brought him up many times since his disappearance as she went to school with his older sister. Seriously… WTF!!! I had heard the rumor earlier in the day but dismissed it as the picture did not look that much like him.
It's 3:00 and there are reports that the suspect is on the run right near my old work place in Watertown. But they don't catch him. May have just been a "ghost" of someone. not sure what that means.
At 3:30 we hear they are evacuating parts of Watertown because there are so many explosives littered around the neighborhood.
TV reporsts say that they are winding the search down for the night, which makes no sense! They need to catch him. I want to sleep!
At 3:45 we hear that motion detectors have gone off in an office park. They send officers there to investigate.
4:15 we hear the suspect is leaving a trail of explosive devices behind him. He has a rifle. It seems like he shouldn't be leaving a trail.
We also hear that suspect #1 had an explosive device attached around his chest and detonated it when he was caught. And they assume 2nd suspect has a similar device attached to himself.
I start wondering what people in Watertown are going to do in the morning. There's no way they are going to let anyone out and about in that area for a while. Will they lock down the mall, the office park and everything around it?
Thought they had him. But no. Just somebody probably trying to go to work.
At 5:15 they are still clearing neighborhoods. This guy must be a magician. Or maybe he's dead. He's got 100's of cops looking for him.
Pete Williams breaks story that both terrorists trained over seas. This would seem to contradict the Sunil possiblity.
5:45 Report on scanner that Waltham police may have spotted him. When person saw the police, they ran into woods. Scanner reports State police are on their way. On TV they show about 8 State Trooper cars screaming out of the mall, turning onto North Beacon Street towards Waltham. Scary! Damn!
5:50 Can hear multiple cars screaming around neighborhood. A few minutes later a skunk in neighbor's yard scares the crap out of me.
At 6:15 AM the T has announced it is close down, nobody is allowed to leave or enter Watertown, or the city/towns of Belmont, Brighton/Allston, Waltham. Waltham lead seems dead.
I can only imagine how scary it must be for all those folks in Watertown. When it was possible he was in my neighborhood for a minute, it was terribly scary.
[NO THEY DIDN’T–>] At 6:17 AM… they got him! At least they are saying that on the scanner. They are waiting for pictures to show up at the scene of the arrest in Kenmore Square to confirm it is the suspect.
7:00 — They didn't catch him! They are redploying assets
The suspects are Chechen brothers who live in Cambridge and are U.S. residents. So not Sunil
There are police operations going on right now in Cambridge, Watertown, and Boston. Nothing solid right now.
8:00 – All of Boston now joins Watertown, Waltham, and Newton in lockdown. The last time he was seen is so long ago he could be anywhere.
For a guy too dumb to flea the area earlier and rob a 7-11 hours after his picture was pushed out to the world, he's smart enough to evade capture 3 times that they found him, and has evaded at least 500 law enforcement officers for 5 hours so far.
8:38 – Possible sighting in Watertown. But… no.
9:00 – FAKE ACCOUNT –> Very unverified –> He's posting online. I don't know where. "I will kill all you like you killed my brother"