BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT ARRESTED
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in police custody after multiple clashes with the police during a nearly 24-hour manhunt.
The suspect is said to be "Alive, conscious, captured," according to the Boston Globe. NBC News says he has "at least" one gunshot wound and is being treated at Mass General Hospital.
Dzhokhar and his brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a gunfight on Thursday, are suspected of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing three and injuring nearly 200.
Watertown, Mass., had been on lockdown for most of the day while authorities conducted a manhunt.
Boston Police Chief Ed Davis said that police caught the suspect after being alerted by a man living in a house, who walked outside and saw blood around his boat. He opened the tarp and saw the suspect covered in blood, retreated, and alerted police.
"We set up a perimeter around that boat and over the course of the next hour or so, we exchanged gunfire with the suspect who was inside the boat," Davis said. "And ultimately, the hostage rescue team or FBI made an entry into the boat and removed the suspect who was still alive in the boat."
"We're exhausted folks, but we have a victory here tonight," Massachusetts Police Col. Timothy Allen said. "Tonight we feel a tremendous sense of gratitude and relief," said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz. "Tonight we can sleep a little bit easier." Said Boston Mayor Tom Menino: "I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you." "I feel so good about this, I tell you. I'm so happy. And people in the greater Boston area will sleep tonight." President Barack Obama wrapped up a grueling week for the nation by hailing a victory — the capture and arrest of the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings."We've closed an important chapter in this tragedy," Obama said in the White House briefing room shortly after 10 p.m. Friday night. The "terrorists" in Boston failed, he said, "because the people of Boston refused to be intimidated."
"All in all this has been a tough week, but we have seen the character of our country once more," he said. "And as president, I'm confident that we have the courage and the resilience and the spirit to overcome these challenges and to go forward as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The bombing investigation appeared to move forward when the FBI released images of two suspects later identified (with the help of the Internet) as Tamerlan and Dzhokhar. The suspects apparently fled; allegedly shooting and killing an MIT campus police officer, carjacking a Mercedes SUV, and chasing the police while throwing improvised explosives out the window. Tamerlan was shot dead early on Friday morning. Dzhokhar was apprehended at 8:42 p.m. on Friday night. MORE COVERAGE: Who is Dzhokhar? Who was Tamerlan? Father calls youngest son an angel. Uncle says "they do not deserve to live on this Earth.".jp2)
