The hunt is on for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as Boston reportedly remains a city almost under seige. It’s in lockdown on a day when the two brothers’ uncle stood in front of the press and called his two nephews “losers,” and expressed grief for their actions. The word “alleged” is still used in most news stories — but it has now clearly gone beyond “alleged.” Meanwhile, Mailonline has published the most haunting photo to yet emerge from the Boston Marathon bombing massacre.
Boston and its suburbs, universities and transit system were on total lockdown Friday as police hunted for marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — on the loose after his accomplice brother was killed in a stunning chain of events that left one cop dead and another injured, officials said.
During a desperate effort to flee after their photos were released by the FBI, the brothers carjacked a Mercedes SUV and told the driver they were the men behind Monday’s double-blast attack at the race and had just killed a campus security officer, a source told NBC News. The driver was released unhurt.
The older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed after a wild chase and firefight, but Dzhokhar was still at large in a densely populated area, and an associate was being sought. Adding to the nightmare, an explosive was found in Boston Friday morning and disabled, an official said.
The suspects’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, called them “losers” and urged Dzhokhar to turn himself in. “We’re ashamed,” he thundered outside his Maryland home.
Here’s the uncle’s statement:
Three dozen FBI agents were surrounding the Cambridge, Mass., home where the brothers, of Chechen origin, grew up after moving to the U.S. a decade ago, seeking asylum. They feared it could be booby-trapped, Boston police sources said.
Twitter and Internet sites are going wild with tidbits on this story — which also seems to now be moving a hair away from entering the political realm. The Twitter account NewsBreaker has been pumping out the latest at record speed. Other sites report what they’ve heard on police scanners — and some of those details have yet to make their way into major news organization reports.
The most haunting image yet comes from Mailonline, showing 8 year old Martin Richard at the finishing line, suspected and sought bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:
Meanwhile, the news that the bombers were from abroad and Muslim is moving into the political realm.
You can always count on Ann Coulter to take an event and cheapen it with a cheap political shot. Andrew Sullivan calls this a “new low,” but Coulter has been 120 feet under the earth for some time. And she proves her status with this tweet, courtesy of Sullivan:
It’s too bad Suspect # 1 won’t be able to be legalized by Marco Rubio, now.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 19, 2013
And this new one:
Suspects’ uncle ofsays they were unemployed losers – the kind of immigrant U.S. welcomes! Danish surgeons: Sorry, no room.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 19, 2013
Sullivan in his post notes: “There’s already an effort by right-wingers to connect the Boston bombers to immigration reform.”
SOME MORE RELEVANT TWEETS:
Richard Engel on @todayshow says behavior of #Boston bombers is consistent w a radical central Asian Islamic group.
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) April 19, 2013
Officials believe they know where remaining bombing suspect is located – @nbcnews; live video coverage: bit.ly/11jVbBY
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) April 19, 2013
Chechen leader takes to instagram to disavow #BostonMarathon bombers bit.ly/11rutEA – @hypervocal twitter.com/NewsBreaker/st…
— NewsBreaker(@NewsBreaker) April 19, 2013
The partisanship starts to quickly kick in:
RT @rebel_bill: Hey Liberals!Guess what! The #bostonmarathon bombers are MUSLIMS! #muslim #terrorist #invasion #ccot #tgdn #tcot #tlot…
— Daria DiGiovanni (@dariaanne) April 19, 2013
BUT:
This horrible act should NOT be blamed on Religion.This is an act of 2 stupid individuals. #Chechen #Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
— Sharon Cheatham(@INVsharon) April 19, 2013
This is believed to be his Twitter account.
UPDATE: Two must reads from The Week:
–-The Tsarnaev brothers: What we know about the Boston bombing suspects
—The Boston Marathon bombings and Chechnya’s long history of terrorism
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.