The Boston Bombing Suspects' Final Day On The Run: A Reconstruction
One week ago, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev killed a police officer,
engaged in a massive shootout that wounded another and left Tamerlan dead,
and set off a manhunt that put Boston on lockdown. Many of the initial
reports were a confused jumble, and we're only now able to recreate the
Tsarnaevs' movements and actions on that final day with any precision.
The picture that emerges from reports by both local and national media, and
from the criminal complaint filed against Dzhokhar, does not suggest a pair
of experienced criminals executing a master plan. It shows disorganization-a
police officer murdered for his gun (the brothers had only one), a vague
idea of exploding more devices in New York City, and a meandering drive in
and around Boston that couldn't help but alert authorities. In short, two
scared, unprepared, and dangerous young men.
There was a robbery at a 7-Eleven near Kendall Square, on MIT's campus, on
Thursday night. But despite early reports, it was not carried out by the
Tsarnaevs, nor was 27-year-old campus police officer Sean Collier responding
to it. He was a half-hour from ending his shift and was sitting in his
patrol car in front of the Stata Building, two blocks from the 7-Eleven and
about a mile from the Norfolk Street apartment where the Tsarnaevs lived.
Around 10:30 p.m., video captured two men approaching Collier's car from
behind. Collier was killed execution-style, with one shot at close range
through his driver's-side window.
Police believe the Tsarnaevs killed him for his gun-their photos had been
released by the FBI hours earlier, and it was time to get out of Boston, but
between them they had only one firearm and one pellet gun. But Collier's
holster had a complicated locking mechanism, and the brothers were unable to
free it. They quickly left the scene in an older model sedan (it's not clear
if they owned the sedan, or how they acquired it).
About a half-hour later, shortly before 11 p.m., the sedan pulled up behind
a Mercedes ML 350 on Brighton Avenue, just west of the Boston University
campus. They did not carjack the SUV in Cambridge, as had been reported-they
had crossed the Charles River and returned to Boston.
The Boston Globe spoke with their carjacking victim, a 26-year-old Chinese
national who will identify himself only by his American nickname, Danny.
The man rapped on the glass, speaking quickly. Danny, unable to hear
him, lowered the window - and the man reached an arm through, unlocked the
door, and climbed in, brandishing a silver handgun.
"Don't be stupid," he told Danny. He asked if he had followed the news
about Monday's Boston Marathon bombings. Danny had, down to the release of
the grainy suspect photos less than six hours earlier.
"I did that," said the man, who would later be identified as Tamerlan
Tsarnaev. "And I just killed a policeman in Cambridge."
Tamerlan alone got into Danny's SUV; Dzhokhar followed in the sedan. The
two-car convoy again crossed the river, taking the Arsenal Street Bridge
into Watertown. Tamerlan told Danny to park on Fairfield Street, a quiet
side street. Dzhokhar pulled up behind them, and the brothers got to work
moving heavy objects from the sedan to the SUV: five pipe bombs and one
pressure cooker explosive like the ones that had gone off at the marathon,
we now know.
As Danny told the Globe, he played up his ethnicity and outsider status in
an attempt to connect with Tamerlan Tsarnaev and save his life.
"Don't look at me!" Tamerlan shouted at one point. "Do you remember my
face?"
"No, no, I don't remember anything," he said.
Tamerlan laughed. "It's like white guys, they look at black guys and
think all black guys look the same," he said. "And maybe you think all white
guys look the same."
"Exactly," Danny said, though he thought nothing of the sort.
[...]
"Oh, that's why your English is not very good," the brother replied,
finally figuring it out. "OK, you're Chinese ... I'm a Muslim."
"Chinese are very friendly to Muslims!" Danny said. "We are so friendly
to Muslims."
The brothers wanted money. They took $45 from Danny and forced him to give
them his credit cards and ATM PIN. Now with Tamerlan driving, Danny in the
passenger seat, and Dzhokhar in the back, they drove to a Bank of America
branch in Watertown Square, a mile from where they'd left the sedan parked.
There, Dzhokhar withdrew $800 using Danny's debit card; surveillance cameras
captured him at exactly 11:18.
They drove west, away from Boston. The brothers spoke a language Danny
didn't understand, but he made out the word "Manhattan." They asked him if
his car could be driven out-of-state, "like New York."
They appeared heading for I-95 when they realized the SUV was low on fuel.
They stopped at a gas station, but the pumps were closed for the night. They
doubled back to Fairfield Street in Watertown and retrieved more things from
the parked sedan. They then drove back to Cambridge, to a Shell gas station
on River Street and Memorial Drive.
Just after midnight, Dzhokhar walked into the gas station's convenience
store to pay for gas and to purchase food and drinks, including a case of
Red Bull and a bag of Doritos. He was again captured on the store's
surveillance camera. Tamerlan remained in the SUV with Danny. Danny was
already planning his escape.
"I was thinking I must do two things: unfasten my seatbelt and open the
door and jump out as quick as I can. If I didn't make it, he would kill me
right out, he would kill me right away," Danny said. "I just did it. I did
it very fast, using my left hand and right hand simultaneously to open the
door, unfasten my seatbelt, jump out...and go."
He heard Tamerlan yell "Fuck!" and felt him make a grab for his back, but he
was out of the car. He sprinted across River Street, to a Mobil gas station.
The Mobil employee on duty, Tarek Ahmed, told the New York Times what
happened.
"He opens the door," Mr. Ahmed recalled in an interview. "I stood up. He
was screaming, saying: 'Call the police. They have bombs. They have a gun.
They want to kill me.' I thought he was drunk."
"He ran behind the counter and ran into the back room, a storage room,
and locked the door," Mr. Ahmed recalled. "At this moment, I believe him. He
was honest, that somebody wanted to shoot him. So I took the phone, and I
called 911."
Tamerlan ran into the Shell and told Dzhokhar they had to go. Dzhokhar
dropped what he was holding, the brothers dashed out of the store, and drove
off in the SUV.
Police quickly arrived to question Danny, who told them that his carjackers
had said they were the marathon bombers. That's when the manhunt swung into
action. Police were able to track the SUV via Danny's iPhone, as well as
through his in-vehicle satellite system.
The brothers returned to Watertown. They knew the Mercedes was compromised,
as was, possibly, the location of the parked sedan. When authorities caught
up with them, according to an account in the Boston Globe, one brother was
driving the SUV and the other the sedan, and police believe they were
looking for a location to transfer their explosives back to the sedan.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a Watertown police officer named Joe Reynolds spotted
them, each driving one of their two vehicles. He radioed it in and was told
to wait for backup. The Tsarnaevs pulled over near the intersection of
Laurel Street and Dexter Avenue, just down the street from Fairfield, where
the sedan had been parked. Reynolds pulled over, too, and waited.
Backup arrived in the form of a speeding squad car that caught the Tsarnaevs
by surprise. One of the brothers, believed to be Tamerlan, opened fire. At
that moment, it was the two brothers against just two officers.
More backup quickly arrived-a total of seven officers engaged, according to
the Watertown police chief. A massive gunfight erupted that saw more than
200 shots fired, most of them by police, as the Tsarnaevs still had just the
one gun. They threw at least two improvised explosives, neither of which
caused any harm or damage.
According to the Globe, Sgt. Jeff Pugliese responded to the call for backup
but did not join the gunfight. He parked on a nearby street, then crossed
through yards to flank the brothers. Police believe it was his gunshot that
brought down Tamerlan Tsarnaev. As officers were subduing him, Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev hopped in the SUV and took off toward the police, and toward his
brother. He struck Tamerlan and dragged him, then broke through the cordon.
He would not be seen for another 18 hours.
One bullet-the state police is investigating whether it might have been
friendly fire-struck 33-year-old MBTA transit officer Richard Donohue in the
thigh, striking his femoral artery. The officers on the scene applied a
tourniquet and performed CPR. Donohue was rushed to the hospital-but not
Beth Israel, which protocol called for. State and Watertown cops,
transporting Donohue in a fire rescue vehicle, decided to go to Mount Auburn
hospital, three miles closer than Beth Israel. It probably saved his life.
Officers cautiously approached Tamerlan's body, afraid he was wearing an
explosive device. He was not, contrary to initial reports. He was taken to
Beth Israel hospital and pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m.
Eerie Photos Of Boston On Lockdown
Boston is closed for business. Buses, trains and taxis are not running.
Residents have been urged. Read.
The Mercedes SUV was discovered a short distance away, with Dzhokhar nowhere
to be found. Boston and its suburbs were effectively shut down, with
residents ordered not to leave their homes. Authorities set up a 20-block
perimeter around the SUV, and searched door-to-door with SWAT teams in an
attempt to find him.
Friday evening, Gov. Deval Patrick lifted the curfew. Authorities had no
leads on Dzhokhar's whereabouts. David Henneberry, a 66-year-old Watertown
resident, stepped outside of his house on Franklin Street, about a half-mile
from the shootout, but still within the authorities' perimeter. He had been
cooped up all day, and he wanted a cigarette.
Henneberry's boat, the 22-foot Slip Away II, was stored behind his house and
was covered in shrink wrap for the season. He saw two pads that had fallen
to the ground. When he went to put them back, he noticed a strap was
unusually loose. He retrieved a ladder and rolled back the shrink wrap. He
saw blood inside the boat and then, an instant later, the inert body of
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, lying near the engine block.
Massachusetts Police Release Thermal Images Of Tsarnaev In Boat
Henneberry ran inside and called police shortly before 7 p.m. Federal and
local authorities quickly surrounded the area and escorted Henneberry and
his family from their home. Thermal imaging from a helicopter confirmed
Tsarnaev's presence, and a robot peeled back the shrink wrap from the boat.
Authorities did not realize it at the time, but Dzhokhar was unarmed. At one
point, a volley of gunfire from police rang out, as the order to cease fire
went out over police scanners. Flash-bang grenades were later lobbed in an
attempt to disorient the already-injured Tsarnaev-a pool of his blood was
found where he had earlier abandoned the SUV, "four or five blocks away"
from the boat.
About 8:45 p.m., Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was persuaded to leave the boat. He was
taken down by authorities, loaded into an ambulance, and rushed to Beth
Israel, the same hospital where his brother had been pronounced dead earlier
that morning.
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