This is breaking news, keep in mind that early reports are not always accurate but there were two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least two people and injuring at least two dozen other people.
They have been called “two bombs” by The Boston Marathon in their immediate response.
“There were two bombs that exploded near the finish line in today’s Boston Marathon. We are working with law enforcement to understand what exactly has happened.”
Some initial details:
Two bombs exploded near the finish of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people, injuring 22 others and sending authorities rushing to aid wounded spectators, race organizers and police said.
One runner, a Rhode Island state trooper, said he saw at least two dozen people with very serious injuries, including missing limbs.
About two hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another explosion could be heard a few seconds later.
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/2-killed-as-2-bombs-explode-at-Boston-Marathon-4435820.php
There are reports of dozens of serious injuries to spectators and runners.
Another explosion reported, possibly a controlled explosion by law enforcement to dispose of a suspicious package. A fire at JFK library started shortly after the explosions, it is being investigated to see if it is connected to the explosions.
Updates to follow.
UPDATE – 1:25 PM PST: Airspace over Boston has been closed. Access to Pennsylvania Ave>, in front of the White House, has been shut down.
UPDATE: 2:00 pm PST: In press conference, Boston Police Commissioner says simultaneous explosions near Boston Marathon finish line, 50-100 yards apart. Explosions were caused by explosive devices that were planted. FBI has sent resources. A third incident occurred at JFK Library and still investigating connection. Citizens in Boston are asked to stay in their homes as it is an ongoing event.
UPDATE: 2:22PM PST: Conflicting reports state that 22, 60 or over 100 people have been injured in the bombings. Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations of explosives, official says.
UPDATE: 3:00PM PST: President Obama delivered a statement on the attack. Stressed that we don’t know who did this or why and that people shouldn’t jump to conclusions. The responsible groups will be found and feel the full weight of justice. The American People are with the people in Boston.
UPDATE: 4-16-2013 – 11:00AM PST: Law enforce officials have determined that the bombs were made of explosive materials placed inside pressure cookers which were placed inside backpacks, likely triggered by a timer. More than 170 people were wounded—17 of them critically and two people were killed. The two fatalities to date have been identified as Krystle M. Campbell, a 29-year-old from Medford, Mass and 8-year-old Martin Richard who was running away from the first explosion with his family when the second blast killed him. His six-year-old sister and mother were injured in the blast as well.
UPDATE: 4-17-2013 – Police have persons of interest that they are pursuing. Incorrect reports of an arrest were made by CNN and AP. Letters to President Obama, initially found to be laced with ricin, were intercepted.
UPDATE: 4-18-2013 – The FBI has released images and video of two suspects in the bombing:
The photos and videos the FBI released aren’t clear enough to make any absolute conclusions. That said, one can guess who they may be as long as it’s understood that such speculation shouldn’t be taken as anything more than speculation.
Their age and appearance, as appears in these partial and fuzzy profiles doesn’t seem to be as consistent with the average Militia/Extremist type so IMO, it seems less likely that they belong to such groups though it is possible.
Foreign terrorist groups more commonly seek out young, alienated men to do their dirty work. The averted Times Square bombing was similar to this attack in a number of respects. In that case it was a Pakistani-born man who had become a US Citizen but had trained at a Pakistani/Taliban terrorist training camp. So in fact it was an American who attempted to commit that act of mass murder.
I remain open to all possibilities but the video, photos and circumstances of the attack would make me less surprised to discover that they were agents of foreign terrorism than domestic.
UPDATE: The FBI has released video and photos of their two primary suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, a selection of them have been added to this post.
Here’s a link to the FBI page with all the photos and video:
http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston
Boston Marathon explosions attract an outpouring of help from city’s residents
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spt–boston-marathon-explosions-attract-an-outpouring-of-help-from-city-s-residents-022321905.html
Bostonians are really coming together over this. It’s nice to see the outpouring of love instead of the hatred that the perps surely have. Love grows, hatred corrodes.
KT, I agree. Hate festers while love heals. We need more love in America and far less hate.
This was shocking news to find in the morning here, and my heart, sympathy and condolences go out to the victims and their families, and all those injured in this senseless act of terror whether domestic or foreign.
I have never understood the reasoning behind killing and maiming innocent people in the name of any cause. There is no cause that would ever be worthy of this kind of destruction. Fighting for a cause or against a government should never be violent because it loses whatever meaning it was trying to make.
Terrorism is a coward’s way out. They kill people they don’t know and have never met to make a point in their twisted minds, but all they do is weaken their stand on any issue they think they are fighting for.
My hope is that these maniacs are found as soon as possible and made to pay. Who would do this at a sporting event, it is just too awful and mind boggling to even contemplate.
My thoughts are with the people of Boston and all those affected by this tragedy of pure madness.
I’ve been watching on CNN but the repetition is just driving me nuts.
Kalima, I’m with you on this, I can’t even conceive of a human being wanting to murder and maim innocent children and mothers and fathers, seeing the act of doing so as something principled and helpful to what agenda they are driven by.
When has terrorism actually accomplished the ultimate goal of the perpetrator? In the short term, they may have the satisfaction of terrorizing the nation or people they see as their enemy but as time passes, the victims resolve themselves against that attacker and bring them down.
I know, the scum behind such acts don’t necessarily think any farther than the act of inflicting suffering and fear on their chosen enemy. It’s like the people who commit murder suicides, you always wonder why, if all they ultimately want to do is die, why they have to kill others before they do.
As always, we will find who did this and we will get them. Too many cameras around, too much evidence always left, too much pride by the attackers to keep it secret. We will catch whoever it was and they will pay dearly for what they’ve done.
Perhaps this has been said, but the 26 miler was to commemorate the 26 killed iNewtown. Kinda makes me want to to hurt whoever dId this
FC, yes, that was mentioned and it makes the hatefulness of this vicious attack even more painful. I think most of us are so outraged right now, we’d like to tear apart the animal(s) who did this. Which is why we have to bide our time and not allow anyone to stampede us into acting on that anger until we take the time to truly discover who did this and why.
But I am furious as I am sad for these poor innocent people and their families.
And now we will have second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour coverage of the same information over, and over and over again.
It is just what those who do these kind of things want and need.
By all means cover the event but what end.
bEcause we have repeated oppotunities to explain how the terrorist (s) are not changing us and how very shameful these acts are viewed
Murph, I had expressed this as well below. If there was a media entity owned by terrorists, they would be running the identical visuals of the terrorist attack over and over as well.
I think we do a disservice to our nation by drowning the nation in video and images of a terrorist attack, it is doing just what the terrorists want anyway, even if for ratings instead of intentionally terrifying the nation.
As you say, this attack should indeed be covered and investigated fully but the imagery which the terrorists intended to terrorize the nation, does not need to be so omnipresent.
Just home from an afternoon/early evening away from home and was horrified to see this. I had checked my cell phone while I was at the park with the Fave and caught the headline, but could hardly believe it.
I’m just listening to the President’s statement now and I’m so grateful — once again — that he is at the helm.
Same here, Kes. I would be very worried if we had a President Romney and the neocons in office right now and what action they might use this attack to take.
As anyone could have predicted, the MSM have created their explosion video loops to exploit and whip up fear in Americans. This is a sick follow up to the actual attacks, actually promoting the very terror that the terrorists want promoted.
The entire hour of Matthew’s Hardball hour on MSNBC was uninterrupted terror porn video with Matthews and guests’ voices in the background as the sight of people being killed and maimed, running in fear, overhead shots of blood filled sidewalks and scenes of destruction are repeated over and over.
It is disgusting.
AdLib – I understand what you’re saying, but as one too experienced with this, I watch, over and over and over. Why?
I want to understand it. I want to know every piece of evidence and whom it indicts. I want to get a sense of who the victims are – my inability to be of ANY use to them is incredibly painful to me.
Seeing this, again and again, makes things clear for me. What happened? Where? Does anyone have more evidence that is new? Tell me so I can figure this out, deal with the fears it raises in me, see if I can determine how to avoid it, end it, emotionally react to it.
I just heard from my brother in MA that the device was ‘homemade’ as opposed to being stolen munitions. It had shrapnel added – and that raised my hackles. THAT was the signature of Eric Rudolph and his ilk. That is not the signature of Al Qae’da. It’s these kinds of things that keep me glued to the repeats – trying to wrap my mind around it and quiet my fear, trying to get room in my heart for my own memories, and thinking of ways to help those so horribly harmed today.
That is why many of us stay glued to the TV, blogs, online news. For us it’s not whoring – it is the real function of media: helping us get a handle on the bad stuff. It literally is the least they and we can do.
CL, I watch it, too. And, I switch channels. You don’t always see the same thing or hear the same thing. The information is changing ever minute as more is learned.
Sally – Yes, I do that. I try to get the view from all sides, not political ones – visual ones. Can I SEE something that makes it clear? Can I understand it if I get a different view?
I know the woman blown up in a bombing done by Eric Rudolph. I watched those stories TRYING to make sense of what had happened to her, to the people at the Olympics, to the people at the reproductive clinic in a general medical practice building.
It’s the “trying to make sense” part that I need. Since 1976 when a friend lost his beloved wife and a valued colleague in the Pinochet-directed bombing in Embassy Row in DC, I have tried and tried to make sense of the violence of the right and religious right.
EAch time I come to terms with it. But I have yet to make sense of it.
Maybe that’s good.
So I read widely, watch a LOT of news from different sources. I just freaking want to understand this.
And I never will.
Choice, I agree and we also can watch non news. Besides, watching this, I wonder if it’s not somewhat cathartic. At times like this, over informed dulls our fears while under informed feed more fear.
CL, I understand that people want to see the explosion going off again and again and again, after 9/11 I was addicted to the news and watched the planes crash into the buildings and all of the other awfulness again and again.
I don’t know that it is healthy for us to watch a terrorist attack so many times in a loop, hour after hour. To be clear, I am not talking about coverage, I would be fine if we were just looking at the talking heads with the occasional cutaway to the video or photos but right after the attack, the video was airing on MSNBC in a loop, approximately every 10 seconds the explosion or aftermath of the attack was shown again and again. So in an hour, people would have seen wall to wall repetition of these horrific images, 360 times each hour and if you watched the news today for 2-3 hours, you probably saw these images over 1,000 times already.
I think it’s important that we consider the shock and fear that this kind of repetitive exposure to terror can do to the public psyche. After 9/11, the submersion of the nation into those omnipresent images was a part of the reason some of the worst things happened in the aftermath of the attack.
Once again, exploring what happened, discussing it, investigating it, trying to understand it is all appropriate IMO.
This kind of visual impact though is the whole reason the terrorists attacked. They want the world to see these images endlessly, they want people to feel terror because of it.
I want to find out who did this and why. Was it Al Qaeda? Was it domestic terrorism by extremists? I do want to know. But seeing people blown up again and again only angers me and terrorizes others.
What we were lacking after 9/11 was a President who would step in front of the media terrorizing of America and inspire us to have courage and be brave. We had no one then to say to a nation, “The only thing to fear, is fear itself.”
Instead, we had the MSM and our government pumping up our fear and using it against us as a nation in terrible ways.
This attack is horrible and an outrage. There shouldn’t be censoring of media or the images but that doesn’t mean there can’t be more responsibility this time not to inflame the public through the burning in of these images into the minds of all Americans and the fear centers of the brains.
If it bleeds, it leads.
This is one of those times when not having cable is — maybe — a good thing. The images are distressing enough, but sometimes the endless commentary is like sandpaper on a sunburn to me.
And it was to commorate the 26 killed at Newtown…..
That makes it even more tragic…heartbreaking…
oops, thought I was in a different spot.
Bot re the news cycle, this one seems important enough and really, isn’t everything cable news reports the minute to minute change in new every day? Whether they cycle second by second changes in gun legislation to sequester news to uncovering changes in this story, I’m not sure I see the distinction
Hey FC, I was not criticizing ongoing coverage, that makes perfect sense. It’s the repetition of the imagery of the explosion, bloody sidewalk, people running and screaming, over and over and over every 10-20 seconds.
It’s lessened a little at this hour but the video of the attack playing many times a minute, with no shot of the people talking, just the attack, does make people more scared and terrorized than they might otherwise be.
I just don’t want the terrorists to be aided by our media, they want a people to feel scared and the more scary images are inescapable in our media, the more their goal is accomplished, IMO.
Ad, I agree with that–I misunderstood. The film footage isnot helpful at some point. I think they could also break up the coverage with other news even while giving the majority to the event.
Let’s hope they solve this. And, if it is a Saudi, let’s expose the billions that the Saudi government spend to spread wahabism world wide. Let’s put our money on the safety of our people rather than the top oil mongers
Ad: You REALLY should read the book “What Terrorists Want” by Louise Richardson. I’ve mentioned it before, but it is a primer for what NOT to do to feed their desires. She is a prof at Radcliffe and an amazing, amazing woman. We sponsored her once for a talk at the speakers series we did at our church. Please try and get this – I can send you a copy if you want.
We need a readers club (like you don’t have enough to do here)!
I will get this book, AB. looks fascinating. In the meantime, this section from the NYT book review of it says a lot:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Walker.t.html
I do like the idea of a reader’s club here, it’s been floated before but it would be great to actually get it going.
I’m going to just barge right into this conversation and second that reader’s (and/or film viewing) club motion.
🙂
Why is there so much hate in this world?
Why is there so much senseless violence?
Those are questions that will always plague society, Nirek. I think it’s hard for people who are connected to society and humanity to relate to the mindset of those who can justify the murders of innocent people for theor own twisted reasons.
There are far too many sick people who want to kill, injure, and maim innocent folks.This kind of senseless act has to stop.
Nirek, as long as there are blindly hateful people and those suffering mental illness, this kind of thing will happen. We can only hope to limit the frequency of such horrible attacks.
Remember how we lucked out with the attempted bombing in Times Square that failed? In a free society, sooner or later, this kind of terrible thing happens again and again.
Hey Ad. Yeah I just saw this news. This is bad, very bad. I used to live just a few blocks from there. I sure hope no one else dies as a result of this heartless and insane act.
Hey KT, I remember you lived in Boston. This is very tragic and angering. So many possibilities as to who could be behind this, domestic and foreign.
Agreed, we can only hope that no one else dies and the injured recover as best as they can.
I just read that no the body count is 3 people. One is/was an 8 year old boy. I sure hope we catch the one/ones responsible for this. I hope there are no more hidden bombs around the city.
KT – I did as well. I did grad research at the Boston Public Library, directly across from the first two bombs, and at the original Mass archives now at the JFK library. Reports of two undetonated bombs, one at a hotel, another not yet disclosed.
I am beyond sick at heart. Many of you know I’ve had too much experience with this. Whoever is responsible – and experts say everyone will claim “credit” – they are despicable and yet solid in their belief they are justified. Solid in the belief that this somehow “changes things”. Solid in their belief they just did something noble.
Well – it changes NOTHING save for the awful impact on the lives of the innocent. Apparently the first two bombs occurred AFTER the main runners, the professionals, had crossed the line, so the targets were ordinary people. And they are evil – why? The two who died the 100 who are maimed – why?
NOTHING has ever gotten better from terrorist actions. Nothing.
I cannot stand the mindset of those who think they have an exalted right to do harm. They always make things worse.
In the famous rally: “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!” Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1. How’d that turn out for them? Not well, if one recalls.
So many died in Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. So many died on 9/11/01. Two also died in September 1976. One died in Atlanta 1996, another in Birmingham 1998. In all cases it added up to – nothing.
In no case did any good come of it for anyone. None. And yet the self righteous let slip the dogs of war against their own or other innocent people.
Do we ever learn? Apparently some never do.
Thanks CL for your thoughts on this.
So true that terrorism never results in the terrorists attaining their goals, only turning civilized society against them.
If they had a speck of reason, they would know this. Look at Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, how they were at the peak of their strength when they committed the 9/11 attacks. Afterwards? Al Qaeda is scattered, Bin Laden is dead and their cause of putting the ME under themselves as their own empire withered after the Arab Spring.
We will find who did this and they will join Bin Laden in defeat.
CL, I lived on Marlborough Street, just a few buildings off of Mass Ave. Been to Copley Square many, many times.
There is a real spiritual sickness in this world. Not sure that’s something new though. I know America suffers from it to a great extent. All the needless hatred.
When people are quicker to hate than to love, there is a serious problem.