The devastating Boston Marathon bombing
On the afternoon of Monday, 15ht April 2013, spectators were lining the streets to watch runners at the Boston Marathon cross the finish line. The atmosphere was jovial as the crowd cheered for those participating in the infamous competition.
The joy would be short-lived, as just before 3pm, two bombs exploded near the finish line. Amidst the chaos, three people lost their lives: 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, 23-year-old Lingzi Lu, and 8-year-old Martin Richard. Hundreds more were hurt and dozens were critically wounded, with many losing limbs.
The attack became known as the Boston Marathon bombing, or sometimes just the Boston bombing.
Join us here at Crime+Investigation as we examine the tragic attack that changed the lives of many innocent bystanders forever.
The bombing
Two bombs were used in the attack, and they were detonated around 210 yards away from one another on Boylston Street. The bombs exploded within 14 seconds of each other.
The bombs themselves were homemade, made using six-litre pressure cookers. Inside the bombs were black powder from dismantled fireworks. There were also nails, ball bearings, and BBs which were designed to act as shrapnel and do as much damage as possible. The bombs were hidden inside backpacks and placed near the finish line.
The culprits
The men behind the domestic terrorist attack were two brothers: 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev and 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The two were descended from Chechen immigrants and had been living in the United States for around a decade. They were radicalised and motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs. They also were opposed to any military action from the United States in countries with Muslim majorities.
Tamerlan became radicalized in 2009. It is believed that Dzhokhar was highly influenced by his older brother, leading to him also becoming radicalized.
The manhunt
Three days after the attack – on 18th April – images of the Tsarnaev brothers were released by the FBI to the public. An intense few days of a major law enforcement operation followed, leading to several violent confrontations.
A few hours after their image was shown on television, the brothers visited a family apartment in Cambridge. While there, they created their own improvised weapons, including a machete and more explosives. They then drove to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Once there, they ambushed and shot police officer Sean A. Collier multiple times while he was in his car. They then tried to take his gun, but couldn’t get it out of the holster due to the security retention system. Collier was 27 years old, and he died shortly after the attack.
The next stop for the brothers was Allston-Brighton in Boston, where they carjacked a man named Dun 'Danny' Meng. They held Meng hostage and robbed him while telling him they were responsible for the bombing.
Meng escaped when the brothers were distracted while trying to refuel their car at a gas station. He ran to another gas station across the street and called the police. Meng’s cell phone was still inside the car at the time. This allowed the police to hone in on the brothers in the Watertown area.
The shootout
A shootout between the police and the brothers occurred just after midnight in Watertown on 19th April. The suspects used their makeshift arsenal, but Tamerlan eventually ran out of ammunition. Police officers tackled him to the ground.
Dzhokhar thought the police were performing CPR on one of their fellow officers, so he drove Meng’s car into them. Despite the police trying to drag him out of the way, Tamerlan was run over by Dzhokhar and dragged down the street.
Tamerlan had also been shot nine times at this point and was in a bad state. The police handcuffed him and the firefight ended. Tamerlan was taken to hospital, but he died from cardiac and respiratory arrest and blood loss.
Thankfully, no other officers were killed. However, transit cop Richard Donohue Jr almost died when his femoral artery was pierced by a bullet.
The search for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Boston was on total lockdown with a shelter-in-place order while the police searched for Dzhokhar. In the evening of the same day – 19th April – he was found hiding in a boat in someone's backyard.
There was a brief standoff between Dzhokhar and police, but he was eventually arrested and taken to hospital for critical injuries.
The sentencing
With Tamerlan dead, only Dzhokhar was sentenced. The trial was harrowing, with jurors sobbing as the graphic stories of the victims - including the three who were killed - were told.
Dzhokhar was convicted of the 30 charges related to the bombing on 8th April 2015. He was sentenced to death in May 2015. He is currently on death row in USP Florence ADX in Colorado.
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