Live Blog #3 Boston Marathon Bombings
Posted: April 15, 2013 Filed under: Crime, open thread | Tags: Boston Marathon bombings, Patriots Day, terrorism 44 Comments
I thought I’d put up one more thread, since the last one has so many comments. Feel free to talk about other topics if you want.
One interesting report from The New York Times. an unexploded bomb was found in Newton, which is a suburb Southwest of Boston.
Police officials said they did not yet have any suspects in custody. A person briefed on preliminary developments in the investigation said that members of Boston’s Joint Terrorist Task Force were at Brigham and Women’s Hospital interviewing a wounded man seen running from the scene of the two blasts, near 671 Boylston Street. The person said that police investigators had contacted the local gas and electric company and determined that the explosions were not related to gas or electrical service.
The authorities also found a device at St. James and Trinity Streets that did not explode, the person said, and two other devices were found, including one in Newton, outside of Boston.
The Mandarin, Marriott and Lenox hotels were evacuated because of reports of suspicious packages, but no confirmed explosive devices have yet been found at those hotels.
The person also said that the maritime security level in Boston was raised from level one to level two; three is the highest level.
“We’re treating this as an ongoing event at this time,” Edward F. Davis, Boston’s police commissioner, said at a late afternoon news conference.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Third person confirmed dead. FBI now in charge of investigation.
Just heard a terrorism expert on WBUR. He said that it’s important to be aware that April 19 (real Patriots Day) is the anniversary of Waco. Timothy McVeigh chose that date for Okla. bombing because of Waco. April 20th is Hitler’s birthday. All important days for domestic terrorist militia types.
Charles Pierce:
Holy Mother of God
“You Are Not Safe Here”: The Remains of a Horrible Day in Boston
Boston Bombing: “They’d ripped out their IVs and made space on the cots for the injured.”
OMG! Mayor Bloomberg called a press conf. with Police commission Kelly because of a bombing 6 hours away in another city.
Everybody is now on high alert………….
I know, but he’s such an egotistic media whore.
San Francisco Mayor did the same, everyone is on edge. BTW thanks for the threads, I was at work and learned about it during off site work. You kept me informed…also the net was going in and out over here…then it was OK.
Thanks for the threads.
I’m glad you checked in WV. Thanks.
Just to caution, I’ve read Pierce’s columns (which are wonderful by the way) however the right wing idiots who pretend to be journalists have unleashed their flying monkeys to troll the comments section. Their comments are bizarre, so be prepared.
Another death is sad. One death is sad. There is no rationale for this brutal attack on innocents. Of course that didn’t stop other incidences of mass murder. I hope this will be the last, although with the current climate….I doubt it. Terrible, horrible – not enough words to describe. What on earth would anyone hope to achieve by this barbaric act?
BB I don’t know how you do it, but you are amazing.
Thanks for the warning. I usually don’t read comments, so I’ll stick with that today.
Columbine was on 4/20 as well. This is so sad. I don’t remember anything quite like this when I was a kid. Kids today grow up thinking this violence is somewhat normal for a society. Scary!
I forgot about Columbine. Thanks.
I just now read the news — in connection with a local runners’ group in my neighborhood doing a run to deal with/work with their grief about the Boston Marathon. Immediately I thought of you, BB, and turned to SD.
I am so sad and shocked to hear this. How can anyone human do this to innocents? When can we finally get real funding for mental-health care? Real funding for parenting and children’s health and a better chance to prevent/minimize chances of such horrors. May all who need it have strength and resilience and find a way through.
Thanks for coming, Luna.
Rachel Maddow is in Boston at Mass General Hospital. She just spoke to Mike Barnicle. I know he’s obnoxious, but he’s a real Bostonian and he was eloquent.
I am not a fan of Barnicle but he spoke movingly tonight.
I’ve never been fan, but he has his moments.
The “Green Building” at MIT.
One thing I’ve learned over the past few years lurking here, Skydancers will get through this as they have other horrible situations in the past before there was even Skydancers. I lurked at Riverdaughter back in the day and recall all the turmoil then. It will leave an indelible mark as have the previous disasters. It’s so very sad that these horrific situations keep recurring. My condolences to all who have been impacted by this.
My son and his two little girls were on Boylston Street when he noticed people running toward him, crying and shouting that bombs were going off near the finish line. He grabbed both girls and ran in the opposite direction but he had no idea where my daughter in law was.
She had decided on Friday to join her friend at the 19 mile line to help her complete the run up Heartbreak Hill. She parted ways with my son and the girls when her friend came into view and they all agreed to meet up at the finish line.
My son drove into Boston, parked the car in his company’s garage, and was walking to the finish line which would have taken him about 20 minutes. It was halfway there that he was rushed by the oncoming crowd who were running from the scene.
He tried calling Kate, whom he found it later was about 10 blocks from the finish line with her friend. She texted that her friend and her husband who also ran the Marathon were safe at that point and she would ride home with them.
Kate has run in two Boston Marathons but this year she only became involved as a support to her friend Lauren who had begun the race in Hopkington earlier.
My son was extremely upset and the girls, ages 10 and 8, were traumatized by the crowds all running and crying out at the same time. This is the same son who was expecting to board a plane at Logan Airport to Houston, TX on a business trip at 9:15am on the morning of 9/11.
He had called me at work from Logan that morning asking what was going on since the passengers were told to go home and that the flights had been cancelled.
Twice he has come within arms length of disaster which makes one realize how one never can predict the next second of life.
I have yet to find comfort in trying to make sense out of almost daily tragedies that have been inflicted on this nation for one insane reason or another. The level of violence that has become standard fair throughout this nation is unimaginable.
Oh God…..Pat….
You know, I was worried because we had not heard from you….I am so sorry that your grand babies and your son and d.i.l have to experience this.
It was just expected to be just an ordinary Spring day.
Whoever thought for a moment they would be running through the streets of Boston trying to outrun bombs going off dragging two little girls by their hands?
Whoever thought for a minute that just be offering support to a friend attempting to run the last leg of a marathon you would be standing only blocks from an area where wholesale carnage was happening?
Whoever could imagine that this day would bring death and mayhem to those who just wanted to go out and enjoy life beginning to stir after another long winter while death lurked nearby?
It is incomprehensible that this horror was done in the name of some god, or some gun nut, or some government hating piece of crap who felt they had a score to settle. What did this solve for whoever felt the need to do something this horrendous?
If it is any consolation, I do know how you all are feeling, and what you will be experiencing as the days go forward. My heart is with you and your families and I love you all very much.
That obviously goes for you too BB
Thank goodness your son and his family are OK, Pat. Thanks for telling us.
I just called my brother and as soon as I heard his voice I started to cry. I kept it together till I got off the phone because he hates that. Now I can’t stop crying. I don’t know if I can sleep tonight.
The night of September 11th, my husband and I stayed up all night sitting on the couch watching CNN with the mute button on…no lights on in the room. I remember the shadows of the red and blue lights from the emergency vehicles on the tv flickering off the walls and reflecting off the white of my husbands t-shirt.
{{{{{ JJ }}}}}
OMG, Pat – how awful!! What a horrible thing for you and your son, daughter in law and grandchildren to experience. I am so, so very sorry. The escalating level of violence in this country is breathtaking and horrifying.
Again, I am so very sorry.
Nodding in agreement, am so sorry………………hope everybody is HOME.
Thank you for sharing this story, Pat. It’s frightening and yet I’m so relieved that there was no physical harm to your family. My thoughts are with you and your family.
You’re so eloquent, Pat. This is a terrible thing. Terrible.
Rachael Maddow is reporting live from Boston at 11PM–not a rerun.
What is the matter with us as a society?
We are so fearful of allowing our kids outside to play that they get little exercise.
We lock ourselves in and spend money to wire the entire house from intruders.
We fear travel because it might involve road rage.
We don’t know our neighbors very well but spend hours online ranting and raving against the machine.
We are told that to be safe we must arm ourselves to the teeth.
We encourage students and teachers to do likewise.
We threaten other nations because we can.
We seldom make eye contact for fear of reprisal.
We ceased being charitable out of a lack of compassion.
We fail to communicate or make any attempts to understand each other.
We prefer isolation to interaction.
We speak harshly yet lament the lack of civility we experience in return.
We are impolite.
We have come to accept that nowhere is safe any longer.
We fear each other because we are fed a steady diet of it.
We are becoming more and more helpless as a result when even a weekly church event can bring on the violence we disdain but embrace.
Other than the warring factions in countries fighting for whatever they consider freedom, I can think of no other one than ours that is fed a daily dose of violence rolling over us like a wave that has become a daily headline from somewhere within.
And I have no idea of how to stop it.
78-year-old runner (see top photo in post) is OK. He got up and finished the race, walked back to his hotel.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130415/NEWS07/304150203/Boston-marathon-blast-knocked-down-78-Bill-Iffrig
I saw several stories mentioning other unexploded devices that had been found, one example is: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/watch-live-boston-bombing-report-saudi-national-idd-12-dead-100-injured-boston
It’s not clear. Some officials have said there were two unexploded devices, others said none were confirmed. The stories of four or five devices seem to be false. In events like this there are often false reports and much confusion.
Peter King was on Nightline saying this has all the indications of a terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda. WTF? That’s the only place I’ve heard that. Nobody else is saying that. Freakin’ wingnuts are getting excited for more war on terror.
Jane Harmon was saying that on TV yesterday too. Why anyone dragged her out of obscurity, I don’t know.
There will be a press conference today at 9:30. Until then we can only speculate.
Some of the “chatter” going around is that this is the work of a Saudi student who is currently under guard at Brigham and Women’s. Others are saying is that he was just an innocent bystander who ran when the bombs went off but was tackled to the ground by some of the spectators.
All we have right now is speculation and theories.
Just be thankful they have not dragged out and propped up Kissinger for another incoherent statement.
I see that no one has claimed responsibility for it, yet.
BB I put up a morning post. With a few headlines, I didn’t know what to do.