Boston
Marathon explosions: FBI releases images, video of two suspects
The images were released
hours after President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended an
interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Boston to remember the
victims, including an 8-year-old boy.
BOSTON—The
FBI released photos and video of two baseball hat-wearing suspects who are
believed to be armed and dangerous and may be responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing.
The two suspects, who appear to be
in their 20s, are shown to be walking purposefully, one behind the other,
through downtown Boston at 2:47 p.m. on Monday, 13 minutes before the bombs
exploded.
One of the suspects wears a black
baseball hat with a Bridgestone Golf logo, sunglasses and a black jacket over a
white V-neck T-shirt.
The other is shown with a white hat
worn backward and a black jacket. Both men are carrying backpacks in the photos
and videos.
“We are enlisting the public’s help
to identify the two suspects,” FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers said.
“Within the last day or so, through
that careful process, we initially developed a single person of interest,” he
said, adding that 30 law-enforcement agencies are working the case. “Not
knowing if the individual was acting alone or in concert with others, we
obviously worked with extreme purpose to make that determination.”
Investigators subsequently
determined they are looking for two suspects. It’s possible that the FBI has
secured other video and photos of the suspects that it hasn’t released.
DesLauriers did not say whether he
believes the bombing was the result of a homegrown plot or one with roots
overseas.
A former FBI agent said in an
interview with The Star that with the release of the photos, the public should
be confident that the suspects would be caught.
“Look at (former Boston crime boss)
Whitey Bulger. The FBI got the tip that led to him being caught one day after
they released his photo,” said the agent, who didn’t want to release his name
because he still consults with the bureau on cases.
Bulger evaded police for 16 years
before he was arrested in California in 2011.
Amid the
frenzy over the release of the suspects’ pictures, Brent E. Turvey, a forensic
scientist, criminal profiler and author of the textbook Criminal Profiling,
said he’s concerned over whether the FBI has narrowed its focus on the right
suspects.
“The FBI tends to jump the gun on
releasing information like this and people’s lives can be ruined,” Turvey said.
For instance, Turvey said the FBI
was positive it had the person when Richard Jewell was questioned in the
Atlanta Olympic Park bombing in 1996. He was later cleared.
As it tried to crack the
high-profile case of a string of letters sent with anthrax that killed five
people in 2001, the FBI called scientist Steven J. Hatfill a “person of interest”
crime. The government later had to pay him a multimillion-dollar settlement.
“My first thought with Boston is, ‘I
hope they’ve got the right people,’ ” Turvey said. “My second thought is about
how young the two suspects look and how well they blend in, in Boston.”
The FBI’s update to the public and
media came hours after U.S. President Barack Obama was once again called to
play the role of “comforter-in-chief” and salve the collective wounds of this
battered city.
“Every one of us has been touched by
this attack on your beloved city,” Obama said at an interfaith memorial service
at Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “Every one of us stands with you.”
It was a cathartic address that
seemed to hit the right notes for a local audience still scarred after Monday’s
bombings, which killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and injured
176 others.
“We may get momentarily knocked off
our feet but we will pick ourselves up,” Obama said, referring to Bill Iffrig,
a 78-year-old runner who was blown off his feet by one of the bomb blasts but
still completed the marathon. “We will keep going. We will finish the race.”
Obama noted that “to the chagrin of
Chicago and New York,” Boston sports teams would again host championship
celebrations, and come next April, “the crowds will gather . . . the American
public will return” for the next Boston Marathon.
“Boston is the perfect state of
grace,” Obama said. “Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your
beloved city. Every one of us stands with you. Boston may be your hometown but
we claim it, too. It’s one of the world’s great cities.”
The president later visited patients
at Massachusetts General Hospital, and spoke with a trauma surgeon there who
has been hailed as a hero. Dr. David King finished the 42-kilometre marathon an
hour before Monday’s bombing, then headed to his hospital and began operating
on patients.
As the president spoke inside the
church, Jasmine Lopez delivered a similar message outside.
Lopez and her husband Carlos brought
their three children to be part of Obama’s visit to Boston, travelling from
their home in South Dennis, Mass.
“My 11-year-old Cheyenne asked me
why God would let this happen and you just don’t know what to say to that,”
Lopez said. “We’re trying to turn a negative into a positive by bringing the
kids here and showing them that there are people who help when bad things like
this happen.
“Through good deeds, light takes
over the dark.”
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