Feral Jundi

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Massachusetts: The Boston Marathon Bombings

My heart goes out to the victims and dead, to the friends and family members of the victims and dead, and to the first responders and bystanders that stepped up to help.

I do not really have a lot of input on the attack. I think what is interesting though is that no one has claimed responsibility yet, which might indicate that we are dealing with an individual or a pair that put this together, and not an organization. If I had to speculate, my guess is that this is domestic terrorism, but you never know?

This attack is not particularly complex, and whomever the bomber was, could have easily put this attack together on their own. All of the components used in this IED would not really flag the individual prior too this attack. In the US, gunpowder or fertilizer is very easy to purchase (speculation). Pressure cookers can be bought anywhere, as can backpacks. There are plenty of videos and news broadcasts of attacks just like this one that came out of places like Iraq or Afghanistan, that a bomber could learn from and copy. The amount of information on such topics is all over the internet.

On that note, authorities are in the process of pouring over the thousands of images and film taken with cellphone cameras and other devices that people had taken at the time. Someone had to have seen the bomber place the backpacks into those trash cans. There is even a time period when the backpack was placed, based on the IED sweep done by authorities prior to and during the race. Here is the quote:

Officials swept the area for bombs twice before the explosions; one of the sweeps occurred an hour before the bombs went off. People were able to come and go freely, and carry items in and out of the area. More than 5,700 runners had yet to cross the finish line at the time of the explosions.

I hope they are able to catch them, and please, if you think you might have seen something of interest here, contact the FBI. –Matt

 

 

Boston Marathon bombings (from wikipedia)
Two bombs exploded at the 2013 Boston Marathon on the afternoon of April 15, 2013, injuring spectators, runners, and others near the finish line. The improvised explosive devices exploded about 12 seconds apart at 2:50 p.m. EDT (18:50 UTC) along Boylston Street west of Copley Square. The blasts killed 3 people and injured at least 183 others.
No suspects have been named, and there have been no arrests or claims of responsibility for the attack. President Barack Obama announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the bombings as an act of terrorism.
Bombings
On Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 15, 2013, the annual Boston Marathon was held with no indications of an imminent attack. Officials swept the area for bombs twice before the explosions; one of the sweeps occurred an hour before the bombs went off. People were able to come and go freely, and carry items in and out of the area. More than 5,700 runners had yet to cross the finish line at the time of the explosions.

At about 2:50 p.m. EDT (18:50 UTC), two bombs detonated on Boylston Street near Copley Square within 600 feet (180 m) of each other, just before the finish line. The first exploded outside a Marathon Sports store at 671 Boylston Street, the second about one block farther west of the finish line. Described as “pressure cooker bombs”, they were improvised explosive devices constructed from pressure cookers, explosives, bits of metal, and bearing balls placed in black nylon duffel bags or backpacks. Video from the finish line shows about 12 seconds passed between the two blasts. At the time of the first explosion, the race clock at the finish line was showing 04:09:43, meaning 4 hours, 9 minutes, and 43 seconds since the third wave, or group, of runners started the marathon.

When the bombs detonated, the marathon winners had already crossed the finish line about two hours earlier; other runners were still coming across. Runners continued to cross up until 2:57 p.m. The blasts blew out windows on adjacent buildings, but did no other structural damage, an indication of the anti-personnel nature of the devices.

During a news conference on April 16, Governor Deval Patrick said there were “only two explosive devices”, the two that exploded. Initial reports conflicted over whether additional bombs were found, with numerous suspicious packages or bags initially discovered. The Boston Police Bomb Squad initially said that they were going to perform a controlled explosion of one of the packages found, on the 600 block of Boylston Street, but later said no other devices than the two exploding bombs have been found.
Victims
The scene, immediately after the first blast

Three people were confirmed dead: 8-year-old Martin Richard of Dorchester, whose mother, Denise Richard, suffered a brain injury and whose 6-year-old sister lost a leg; 29-year-old Krystle M. Campbell, a restaurant manager from Medford; and Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old female Chinese national from Shenyang who was a graduate student at Boston University.

Many victims suffered lower leg injuries and shrapnel wounds, which indicated the devices were low to the ground. Some suffered ruptured eardrums.

At least 13 of the injured suffered severed limbs. Two brothers, aged 33 and 31, each lost a leg. Celeste Corcoran, a hairdresser from Lowell, had both legs amputated below the knee; her daughter Sydney, 18, sustained injuries to arteries in both legs. Jeff Bauman, Jr, a 27-year-old grocery worker, later had both legs amputated below the knee at a hospital due to vascular and bone damage. A photo of Bauman in a wheelchair, being assisted by volunteers and an emergency worker, became iconic of the bombing.

A doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center had seen an X-ray of a patient’s leg containing “what appears to be small, uniform, round objects throughout it—similar in the appearance to BBs”. Doctors described removing “ball-bearing type” metallic beads a little larger than BBs, and more than a dozen small carpenter-type nails about 1 to 2.5 centimeters (0.4 to 1.0 in) long.

Eight local hospitals reported that they were treating or had treated a total of more than 124 people. At least 15 were in critical condition on April 16, including 2 children.

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