The two Boston Marathon bombing suspects are brothers of Chechen origin who have been residing in the Boston suburb of Cambridge, Mass., for more than a year, according to media reports from government officials.
NBC reported that one of the suspects is 19-year-old Dzhokar Tsarnaev of Chechnya, a province in the southern part of Russia. He is the brother who was killed by police officers in a shootout that took place in Watertown, Mass., another suburb of Boston. Officials say the slain brother died of both gunfire and shrapnel from bombing material.
The surviving brother escaped the gunfire and is believed to be on the loose in Watertown. The city is on complete police lockdown with no businesses being allowed to open and all subway and bus systems have been suspended in metropolitan Boston.
“We believe this to be a terrorist,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis of the bombing suspect still at large. “We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him in custody.”
The two men were wanted for Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, when two blasts ripped through the crowd near the finish line.
The massive police operation was under way in Watertown after the Department of Justice on Thursday released pictures and video of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.
The FBI had enlisted the public’s help in identifying two men wearing backpacks and baseball caps in the crowd minutes before bombs exploded near the finish line.
