The little boy who died in Monday’s Boston bombing has been named as eight-year-old Martin Richard from Dorchester in Massachusetts – killed as he was standing at the finishing line waiting to give his marathon running father a hug.
A man comforts an injured woman on the sidewalk at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon
Losing his life as two explosions ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people, Martin was at the race to support his dad Bill Martin, along with his mother Denise Richard and two siblings.
Friends held a vigil on Monday night at the neighborhood Tavolo Restaurant in Dorchester for Martin and his mother and sister, who suffered ‘grievous’ injuries in the bombing on Monday afternoon.
According to local news reports, Bill is a community leader in the Ashmont section of Dorchester and his other child who attended was reportedly not injured.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT AND VIDEO BELOW
This news came after around 20 police and federal officials, including members of the bomb squad searched the apartment of a ‘person of interest’ in the Boston marathon bombings on Monday evening after witnessing an erratic driver circling past the State Police barracks a number of times.
An injured person is helped on the sidewalk near the Boston Marathon finish line following Monday’s two bomb blasts
Officers with the Revere police force, which is five miles from downtown Boston pulled him over and a source told WBZ-TV that he displayed a ‘nervous demeanor’.
The driver then led police, as well as the FBI, to a home in the area of Ocean Avenue and Beach Street – which was then descended upon by Boston Police K-9 units, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Homeland Security investigations.
A source confirmed that the large police presence at the home in Revere is related to the Boston Marathon bombings – which killed three people, including an eight-year-old boy and left 144 people injured – 17 critically.
Marcus Worthington, 24, a resident in the building said no one from the police or FBI has told him what is happening.
‘I started noticing the cars, the Taurus there and that one about 5,’ Worthington said. ‘We were thankful we decide not to go down. It’s best not to jump to conclusions.’
Injured people and debris lie on the sidewalk near the Boston Marathon finish line
Boston Police Crime Scene Response unit arrived and two members of that unit took several brown paper bags, normally used to store evidence taken from the scene, into the building and left with them full afterwards.
Police confirmed that at least three people lost their lives in today’s deadly Boston Marathon bomb attack – leaving behind a scene of carnage that brought the specter of terrorism back to American soil.
The FBI, which has taken over the investigation into the outrage which has also injured 144 people – 17 critically – announced that they were searching for a man they described as having dark skin, wearing black clothes and a black back-pack who tried to gain entry into a restricted area during the marathon.
It was also reported that he may have had a foreign accent.
And with the victims reportedly ranging from two-years-old to 63-years-old, hospitals across Boston have said that they were removing ball bearings from a large number of the 144 injured in the co-ordinated and almost simultaneous bomb blasts.
Medical workers aid an injured man at the 2013 Boston Marathon who screams out in pain
Medical officials have said that at least 10 injured people had limbs amputated and several of the patients treated at Massachusetts General Hospital suffered injuries to lower limbs that will require ‘serial operations’ in the coming days, trauma surgeon Peter Fagenholz said on Monday night to CNN.
Initially counter-terrorism sources in the city believed that seven devices were planted across the city – but only two detonated.
However, a law-enforcement official said late on Monday evening that investigators now doubt those devices were bombs, but were in fact suspect packages – left behind as runners and pedestrians rushed away from the scene in the aftermath of the blasts.
Each device or package was rendered inoperative or was being rendered safe according to officials – who said that the fast moving investigation meant that every suspicious device thought to be a bomb might not be.
Eventually law enforcement and city officials disputed published reports that investigators had discovered one or more bombs that had failed to explode.
A federal law enforcement official told CNN that both bombs which detonated at the Boston finish line were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive was used – indicating they were crude devices.
At an evening briefing, officials said the National Guard had cordoned off the area to preserve evidence.
‘I am not prepared to say we are at ease at this point in time,’ sad Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis according to NBC News.
Boston police initially issued an alert for a rental van that may have sought access to the marathon route, and then another alert for a man wearing dark clothing and a hood who was seen leaving the scene of the blasts.
CBS News reported earlier that authorities are also reviewing surveillance video that shows a man from behind carrying two backpacks near the site of the explosions. Authorities are not sure whether the subject in the video is linked to the blasts.
Boston police say no suspect has been taken into custody.
Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S.
A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.
In Washington, President Barack Obama vowed, ‘Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.’
Boston ‘is a tough and resilient town,’ he said, adding that Americans will stand by Bostonians ‘every single step of the way.’
It was this afternoon that at least three people were killed and up to 144 people injured as two bombs exploded almost simultaneously near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today.
After the twin detonations 12 seconds apart ripped through the cheering crowds 50-yards away lining Boston’s streets at around 2.50 p.m – one witness told CNN that it ‘felt like a huge cannon’.
Bill Iffrig, 78 and a veteran marathon runner, was almost at the finish when ‘the shock waves just hit my whole body and my legs just started jittering around.’
Iffrig, can be seen in video of the explosion wearing an orange tank top, and was helped to his feet by an event volunteer and had just a scratch from his fall, he told CNN.
‘In 28 years, this is definitely the worst I’ve seen,’ said District Fire Chief Ron Harrington of the Boston Fire Department’s District 3 to NBC News.
‘Bodies and body parts. Blood all over. A little boy lying in the street. A young woman in her twenties. Both dead. It was mayhem. I saw two people with arms hanging loose, and one without a leg. A shoe with flesh still in it.’
Right after the blasts, police officers could be seen carrying bloody spectators to medical tents intended for exhausted runners in desperate attempts to save lives.
The fiery twin blasts took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route. Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.
‘They just started bringing people in with no limbs,’ said runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to shield their children’s eyes from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but ‘they saw a lot.’
‘They just kept filling up with more and more casualties,’ Lisa Davey said. ‘Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed.’
Boston Children’s Hospital received eight patients injured at the explosion at the Boston Marathon. Patients’ conditions ranged from good to serious. There were no patient deaths among the patients brought to Boston Children’s from the scene.
Their patients included a 2 year-old-boy with a head injury has been admitted to the Medical/Surgical ICU, a a 9-year-old girl with leg trauma who was sent to the operating room and a 12-year-old boy with a femur fracture.
The condition of these children currently is not known.
Witnesses reported scenes of utter ‘pandemonium’ in the seconds after the devices exploded on Boston’s Boylston Street sending thousands of runners and spectators running for cover as emergency workers rushed to aid those hurt.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that a potential suspect in the attacks was being guarded by police in an undisclosed Boston hospital.
Several reports now say a suspect is being guarded in a Boston hospital bed. One initial report said he was a Saudi Arabian national.
CBS News senior correspondent John Miller confirmed that a Saudi national is being questioned by authorities.
He was seen ‘acting suspiciously’ running from the explosion.
He was turned over to Boston police and is being questioned by the FBI. He is being cooperative and denies any involvement.
‘This could mean a lot, or this could mean very little,’ Miller said at the time. ‘It’s too soon to call him a suspect.’ ***
It was later revealed that the Saudi national question was reportedly tackled and held by a bystander after he was seen running from near the scene of the explosion, said a law enforcement source.
The Saudi man, believed to be a university student in Boston with a valid visa, is cooperating with the FBI and told agents that he was not involved in the explosions, and that he ran only because he was frightened. Investigators did not believe the man as a suspect.
Speaking to the nation just after 6.p.m this evening President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will ‘feel the full weight of justice.’
He reiterated that many people were injured, ‘some gravely’ and remarked that on days like today, ‘there are no Republicans or Democrats,’ emphasizing that it is crucial not to categorize the bombings as terrorist attacks. ***
The president made clear that ‘We will find out who did this and hold them accountable.’
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis had said at an afternoon press conference that there was a third, uncontrolled explosion at the JFK Library which was believed to be an electrical fire.
However, any link to the earlier bombs at the marathon finish line has been ruled out.
Eyewitnesses at the finishing line on Boylston Street said there were two loud explosions about ten seconds apart, and emergency vehicles crowded the scene.
Witness Dave Weigel said via Twitter minutes after the explosion: ‘I saw people’s legs blown off. Horrific. Two explosions. Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror.’
One doctor, Allan Panter, a doctor stood near to the finish line said he was 25-feet away from the first blast when it detonated.
‘I saw at least six to seven people down next to me,’ he said. ‘They protected me from the blast. One lady expired. One gentleman lost both his (lower) limbs. Most of the injuries were lower extremities.’
The explosions ripped into an idyllic afternoon finish for the marathon. The first men had passed the finish line 2 hours and 10 minutes after the staggered start, and the first women crossed just 16 minutes later.
It appears the bombs were left for the slower, charity runners grappling with a four-hour run time who were converging on the race’s end at 2:50 p.m
Police were keen to underline there had been no arrests but they did say they were talking to suspects.
There was another individual pictured in handcuffs near to the scene but it wasn’t clear whether it was an unrelated arrest or not.
The first blast sent a quick plume of smoke two stories high. Runners nearby stopped in their tracks, confused and unsure. After a few seconds later, a second explosion happened a half-block away, with a deep boom caught on television cameras.
Emergency personnel rushed to the area, and the street was quickly sealed off.
‘I saw it go off and smoke billowed up. Everyone just stopped and hunched down,’ said Pam Ledtke, 51, from Indianapolis, who was about 75 yards from the finish line when the explosions went off.
‘They didn’t know what to do,’ Ledtke said.
‘All of a sudden, people were screaming,’ Ledtke added.
Nickilynn Estologa, a nursing student who was volunteering in a block-long medical tent designed to treat fatigued runners, said five to six victims immediately staggered inside. Several were children; one was in his 60s.‘Some were bleeding from the head, they had glass shards in their skin,’ she said.
‘One person had the flesh gone from his leg; it was just hanging there.’ Another woman, she added, was lying on a gurney as emergency personnel raced through the tent, giving her CPR.
‘I just can’t believe anyone would do something like this,’ Estologa said.
‘I saw two explosions,’ reported Boston Herald journalist Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon.
‘The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising.’
The blast ‘looked like it was in a trash can or something,’ he said. ‘There are at least a dozen that seem to be injured in some way.’
Police established a crime scene around the Prudential Center, which is near the finish line. The blast apparently occurred about 300 yards from the finish line.
A White House official called the explosions an ‘act of terror,’ saying authorities have much to learn about who was behind it.
‘Any event with multiple explosive devices — as this appears to be — is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror,’ the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
‘However, we don’t yet know who carried out this attack, and a thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned and carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic.’
Witnesses described a chaotic scene in the immediate aftermath of the blasts.
Paul Cummings, a 44-year-old runner from Portland, Oregon, was in the medical tent near the finish line getting a leg massage when the explosions occurred.
‘It didn’t sound like a water main blowing or anything else — it sounded like a bomb,’ Cummings said.
‘Maybe I watch too much TV or something, but as soon as I heard it, I knew it was a bomb. It was just a loud explosion, and then another. You can’t hear a noise like that and think anything good happened.’
Authorities in New York and Washington tightened security precautions in the wake of the blasts.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent all of its bomb technicians, explosives officers, explosives specialists and canine officers from their Boston and New York field divisions to the scene, as well as some investigators from Washington.
Hours after twin explosions rang out near the city’s Copley Square, President Obama appeared
before the nation to tell them, ‘We still don’t know who did this or why they did this,’ vowing that Americans stand by those affected.
