U.S. Makes Important Break In Boston Bombing Case; Suspect #2 Captured

Pictured, from left, are: FBI Director Robert Mueller; Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; Attorney General Eric Holder; Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken; and Vice President Joe Biden. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Friday April 19, 2013

Following Monday’s bombings in Boston during the Patriots Day Marathon, President Obama today met with members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House to discuss developments in the investigation. President and Mrs. Obama travelled to Boston on Thursday for an interfaith service. While there the President told the victims’ families, government officials, community leaders and first responders at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston Thursday. “We may be momentarily knocked off our feet, but we’ll pick ourselves up. We’ll keep going. We will finish the race,”

Today, one of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 is dead while the other Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19 is in custody. Federal and local law enforcement agencies concluded a massive manhunt in Watertown Massachusetts, where he hid for a full day in boat in the backyard of a resident.

The Boston Marathon is run on Patriots’ Day every year, so the holiday is referred to as “Marathon Monday” by many Bostonians. On Monday April 15, 2013, at approximately 2:50 PM EDT (18:50 UTC), 04:09:43 since the start of the 117th running of the race, two bombs were detonated near the finish line, killing 3 and injuring over 180 people. Several nationalities participated in the marathon.

Patriots’ Day is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. These were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed on the third Monday in April in Massachusetts and Maine (once part of Massachusetts), and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin.