Manhunt in Massachusetts

From USA Today

Authorities are focusing their hunt on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the brother of the dead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. The Boston Globe reports that police fear Dzhokhar is wearing an explosive vest.

A federal law enforcement official said authorities have not yet searched the Cambridge, Mass., residence where the brothers were living, in part because of concern that it may hold explosives or be booby-trapped.

During the pursuit of the overnight and early-morning pursuit of the suspects, the official said authorities recovered a handful of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including one in the possession of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. All of the devices appeared to be homemade "fused'' explosives.

Investigators have not found any formal links so far to an international terror group.

The Tsarnaevs are believed to have moved to the USA from war-torn Chechnya in 2003, along with other family members. Tamerlan was studying engineering at Bunker Hill Community College in nearby Charlestown.

From New York Times

At 5:45 a.m, Gov. Deval Patrick suspended service on all public transit services in the M.B.T.A. system in Boston. Vehicle traffic was also suspended in and out of Watertown, the Boston police said. The authorities asked all residents of the towns of Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Allston-Brighton and Cambridge to stay home and stay indoors. “This situation is grave, we are here to protect public safety,” said Col. Tim Alben of the Massachusetts State Police.

The authorities also said people in Belmont, near Watertown, should also stay at home.

“We believe these are the same individuals that were responsible for the bombing on Monday at the Boston Marathon. We believe that they’re responsible for the death of an M.I.T. police officer and the shooting of an M.B.T.A. officer,” said Col. Tim Albens of the Massachusetts State Police.

. . . In Watertown, helicopters circled overhead as just about every stripe of law enforcement canvassed the community of about 32,000.

The police scanner buzzed with activity, but at the area where media representatives were cordoned off, on the edge of town, the authorities declined to comment on what might be happening within the lockdown area.

The situation was so fraught that CNN decided to show images from Watertown only on a tape delay.

Watertown MA 7 Am Swat team just searched my street and my house, guns drawn! twitter.com/karen_pryor/st…
— Karen Pryor (@karen_pryor) April 19, 2013

+1: "From the Middlesex County DA: One suspect dead." by @jonathanglick sulia.com/my_thoughts/f3…
— Anomaly One Hundred (@Anomaly100) April 19, 2013

RT @bostonoccupier: Police Scanner: Suspect is posting online "I will kill all of you. You killed my brother"
— FriendofTrees(@Jamiastar) April 19, 2013

MORE: Boston suspects are brothers, aged 19 and 20, and legal permanent U.S. residents of Chechen origin, sources say
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 19, 2013

#WANTED: Suspect identified as 19 year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of Cambridge. Suspect considered armed & dangerous. twitter.com/Boston_Police/…
— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 19, 2013

MIT officer Sean Collier, 26, of Somerville, was identified as the victim in last night’s shooting. twitter.com/cambridgechron…
— Cambridge Chronicle (@cambridgechron) April 19, 2013

#Watertown - Incredible photo of SWAT teams #Boston twitter.com/hansalink_info…
— нαηѕα (@hansalink_info) April 19, 2013

Locked down in Central Square, #Cambridge twitter.com/BikeSafeBoston…
— Bike Safe Boston (@BikeSafeBoston) April 19, 2013

Praying for Boston and the Victims after the Marathon Bombing

It's been a horrible 24 hours since the bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon. We've seen nightmarish photographs of fire and smoke in the air, of broken glass, of human blood smeared on the sidewalk. We've read stories of human bodies torn apart by twisted shrapnel, of double amputations, of first responders and hospitals overwhelmed by injuries only seen on the front lines during wartime. All of us wonder what kind of evil coward builds a bomb and plants it beside a group of happy, innocent people, families and children, athletes and tourists, on a beautiful spring day? Who plans out such carnage then steps back to watch the chaos?

I'm very glad that I can't understand the mind who carried out this evil. All Americans are Bostonians now. We are torn apart with grief. We will find out who did this unspeakable act and justice will be served.

Shooting at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin

So sad that there has been another mass shooting in the United States. This one has been classified as an "act of domestic terrorism," but really aren't they all?



NBC News Story  

A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said.

. . . It was not immediately clear why local police were classifying the shooting as domestic terrorism. Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News the suspected gunman had no obvious connection to domestic terror or white supremacist groups and apparently was not on any list of suspected terrorists. The suspect was in his early 40s, and while he had an arrest record, it was for minor offenses, one federal official said. A law enforcement official told NBC News the gunman was dressed in a white T-shirt and black tactical-style pants, which had several pockets for holding ammunition magazines. He was armed with a single handgun, the official said. His name was not released but police say they have a tentative ID and were searching his home.

. . . Officials told NBC News the suspect, who served in the U.S. Army, had many tattoos. The suspect had some kind of radical or white supremacist views but, as far as officials said they had heard, he was not in any kind of radical organization. His previous run-ins with law enforcement involved traffic offenses, they said.

From Reuters

Turban-wearing Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is overseeing the probe into shootings, Edwards said. "We're treating this as a domestic terrorist incident," he told reporters. Officials had no details about a possible motive.

Milwaukee's Froedtert Hospital said three male victims included one who had been shot in the abdomen, one in the extremities and face, and a third who was hit in the neck. The Oak Creek shooting was the latest in a series of suburban U.S. gun rampages. Organizations fighting gun violence rate Wisconsin's gun safety laws from low to moderate. There are no limits on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time, nor on the possession or transfer of assault weapons, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

. . . The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest in the world, with more than 30 million followers. It includes belief in one God and that the goal of life is to lead an exemplary existence. The temple in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee, was founded in October 1997 and has a congregation of 350 to 400 people. There are an estimated 500,000 or more Sikhs in the United States. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 by Islamist militants, Sikhs have sometimes been confused publicly with Muslims because of their turban headdress and beards.