Accused Boston Bombers Plotted Attack in NYC, Police Say
Federal agents and police uncovered a stash of firework shells, some of
which appeared to have been emptied of their gunpowder in a grocery store
parking lot in Watertown, suburb of Boston, April 24, 2013. (ABC News)
By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , MICHELE MCPHEE, and MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk)
April 25, 2013
The brothers Tsarnaev had plans to drive to New York in their carjacked
Mercedes and explode their remaining bombs last Thursday, but their plans
went off track when the owner of the car they stole made an escape, law
enforcement sources told ABC News.
Authorities said the information came to the attention of investigators
during the interrogation of 19-year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who had at first
said the plan was to go to New York to "party" but then changed his story in
a subsequent interview. At that time Tsarnaev allegedly acknowledged that he
and his brother planned a follow-up attack. The brothers had several
unexploded devices with them as they tried to flee, Boston Police sources
said.
There was no immediate reaction from New York officials but Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has scheduled a news conference for this afternoon.
Law enforcement officials also tell ABC News they are preparing to move the
accused Boston Marathon bomber from his hospital room to a secured medical
facility in one of the region's prisons, sources tell ABC News.
The move is expected in the next 48 hours, but officials were not making
public the timing of the transfer or the Tsarnaev's destination. There are
several prison facilities around Boston that have medical facilities.
The developments come after authorities collected what could be fresh
evidence of how the men believed responsible for the twin detonations at the
Boston Marathon finish line constructed their bombs.
Agents uncovered a stash of firework shells, some of which appeared to have
been emptied of their gunpowder. The cache was discovered in a used clothing
collection bin in a grocery store parking lot in Watertown.
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Video
"It was a device that looks like a big firecracker . that had a wick in it,"
said Michael Tambosi, a representative of the group Planet Aid New England,
which owns the clothing donation containers.
A driver for the organization first spotted the fireworks when he opened the
bin. There were about half a dozen Roman candle shells in a plastic grocery
bag and Tambosi said it looked like some of them had been scooped out.
Investigators responded late Wednesday, loading the bins on a flatbed truck
and carrying them away to the staging area the FBI team has set up for
gathering evidence in the bombing case.
Already, authorities have determined that most of the homemade bombs were
built with store-bought items, including kitchen pressure cookers, nails,
and the guts of remote control cars. The source of the explosive materials
was still being studied.
Officials will be examining the fireworks to see if the hollowed-out shells
match those that Tamerlan Tsarnaev is believed to have purchased from a
vendor in New Hampshire, or bear any resemblance to the pyrotechnic device
that agents said was discovered in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college dorm room.
Explosives experts said the powder from the fireworks can serve as a potent
ingredient in homemade devices similar to those that exploded along Boylston
Street, killing three and wounding more than 250 marathon spectators.
"They can be extremely powerful," New York Police Department bomb technician
Kevin Barry told ABC News.
Officials continued Wednesday to try piece together the actions taken by the
Tsarnaev brothers in the days and weeks leading up to the marathon blasts.
But that effort will no longer be aided by the hospitalized suspect,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev is no longer cooperating with interrogators, authorities said. He
was read his Miranda rights on Monday after 16 hours of questioning, which
interrogators said was stretched out as long as possible.
Authorities were gathering evidence that suggested the two brothers might
have been planning a trip to New York.
The man who was car-jacked by the bombers has reported he may have overheard
them talking about Manhattan. Police were also scrutinizing photos posted on
a Russian social network page by a friend and one time classmate of 19-year
old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The photo showed Tsarnaev and others in Times Square
a year ago.
The New York police commissioner said he had been told by investigators that
the two brothers were talking about traveling to New York after the
bombings.
"The bit of information that we have ... may have been words to the effect
of coming to New York to party," said New York City Police Commissioner Ray
Kelley.
Boston Bombers Planned New York Attack
People in Boston continue to struggle to understand the motive of the
bombings and the murder of a police officer on the MIT campus. At
Wednesday's memorial for the slain officer, Vice president Joseph Biden
spoke with angry contempt of the Tsarnaev brothers. "Two twisted, perverted,
cowardly, knock-off jihadis here in Boston," he said.
One lingering mystery lies in what changed for Dzhakhar Tsarnaev, who spent
most of his childhood and formative years in America schools, and was widely
described as easy going and well liked. Just last year, on September 11, in
a patriotic ceremony on the floor Boston's TD Garden, the University of
Massachusetts student and casual soccer player sat among 2,500 immigrants
and swore his allegiance to the United States, becoming a naturalized
citizen of the United States.
Seven months later, authorities say he told FBI agents that he and his
brother planted bombs along the route of the revered sporting event and
killed a police officer. The reason he gave, according to authorities, was
that Muslims are at war with the US.
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