TORONTO – The entire city of Boston is under lockdown Friday as police and investigators continue their manhunt for the surviving suspect linked to the Boston Marathon bombings.
Overnight, a 26-year-old suspect was shot and killed, along with an MIT campus police officer. The man, along with his 19-year-old brother, exchanged gunfire and threw explosives at police during the deadly chase.
Global News compiles what is known so far about the Boston bombings.
Who is the suspect police are chasing?
Police are looking for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who has lived near Boston and has been in the U.S. for about a decade, reports say. His brother Tamerlan Tarnaev, 26, had been known to the FBI as Suspect No. 1 and was killed overnight as the siblings hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle overnight.
The brothers were seen wearing baseball caps in the images from Monday’s deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line. The FBI released these images on Thursday and asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.
Earlier at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night, an MIT campus police officer was shot and killed, allegedly by the suspects.
Read more: Massive manhunt in Boston hours after MIT police officer killed
What happened on Monday at the marathon?
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Just before 3 p.m. on Monday, two bombs exploded about 10 to 12 seconds apart at the foot of one the world’s most storied races.
The bombs were about 100 yards apart in Boston’s Copley Square. The latter was located on the 26th and final mile which was dedicated to the 26 lives lost in the Newtown school massacre, U.S. reports say.
The explosions happened four hours into the race. Thousands of marathoners were still making their way through the course.
How many people died or were injured in the blast?
Three people are dead and more than 170 people have been injured following the bombings.
The first victim identified was 8-year-old Martin Richard, who neighbours in Dorchester remember as a vivacious boy who loved to run and climb.
His mother, Denise, and 6-year-old sister Jane were badly injured.
Restaurant manager, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi were the second and third fatalities stemming from the bombings.
Campbell headed to the race with a friend who wanted to grab a picture of her boyfriend running. Lingzi was studying mathematics at Boston University and was from the northeastern city of Shenyang, according to Chinese state media.
Hospital officials have said they don’t foresee any more deaths.
Among those injured, about 13 people needed amputations. A nine-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy are among 17 victims listed in critical condition.
Were any Canadians hurt in the bombings?
Some 26,800 runners and wheelchair racers were registered for this year’s race, according to the Boston Athletic Association. This included patrons from 74 countries.
Among them was about 2,070 Canadians. But so far, no reports have surfaced of Canadians injured in the bombings. Ottawa’s department of foreign affairs has set up a help line for consular service for Canadians in Boston: 1-617-247-5100 and 1-800-387-3124.
What was used in the bombs?
By Tuesday, investigators said the bombing was carried out using kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel. The pressure cookers were ordinary, 1.6-gallon (6-litre) pressure cookers and stuffed into black duffel bags left on the ground, investigators told the Associated Press.
FBI agent Richard DesLauriers told reporters that officials found pieces of the black nylon from bags or a backpack along with fragments of BBs and nails. These items were sent to an FBI laboratory in Virginia. It’s still unclear what was used to set off the bombs.
Do authorities believe this is terrorism?
U.S. President Barack Obama is calling the bombing an “act of terror.”
“We don’t yet know, however, is who carried out this attack or why. Whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual,” Obama said Tuesday.
“Given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism,” Obama said. “Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror.”
Read more: Full text of Obama’s remarks
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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