Boston Marathon Bomber Suspect #1 Killed and Suspect #2 Captured

Since the horrific bombing on Monday at the annual Boston Marathon that killed 3 and wounded over a hundred people, residents have been on edge and much of the nation has been glued to the television in hopes of an arrest. Law enforcement released names and photos of the two suspects to the public yesterday (Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 and his brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19) and the news spread like wildfire across the internet and various social media sites.

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

According to reports, there was a shoot out last night near M.I.T. and one of their officers, 26 year old Sean Collier, was murdered by the suspects.  During this shoot out, it is believed that the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (suspect #2) somehow escaped. However, tonight just a little before 9p ET, the Boston Police Department announced that they had captured suspect #2 who was apparently held up in a boat in someone's backyard. Reports are still coming in and many of them are sketchy but we do know that the second suspect is alive and currently in custody.

As I watched this story unfold over the past several days, I've heard so much speculation regarding the race of the suspects. Just this morning I heard someone on a major news outlet say that she didn't believe that the suspects were 'homegrown'. Another news source reported that the suspects were 'dark skinned'. Although we do not know all of the details surrounding the bombing or the suspects yet, it has been reported that the two suspects were of Russian descent but were US citizens. In fact, according to reports, one of the brothers became a naturalized US citizen on 9/11/2011 and both have lived here in the US for several years. The media really needs to be more careful with what they release to the public and do more fact checking and less speculating because neither of these men look dark skinned to me. Racial profiling is a serious issue in this country and having major news outlets speculate on the race and ethnicity of suspected terrorists is just irresponsible.

Photo Credit: US News (usnews.com)

I'm glad that the suspect was captured alive and I hope that law enforcement is able to get some answers out of him. What was the motivation behind the bombing? Did they act alone or are they a part of a larger group? Where did they obtain the explosives? Why is he seen on footage from the marathon with no disguise, white cap turned backwards, while his older brother was clearly incognito in dark shades and a hat? Why was he hiding in a boat, on land in someone's backyard?  So many questions but I'm sure that we'll learn more as the story unfolds.