Explosions at Boston Marathon

[Harlowe]

Oh no...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/ex ... athon.html

[Alluveal]

I know, wtf. I thought about you, Harlowe (being a runner and hoping something like that never happens to you), hoping that people are okay. I'm wondering what's going on. We have no DirecTV at the moment (yay evil snowstorm from hell), so I'm having to refresh CNN and stuff.

Any idea if it was a terrorist act, or an accident of some sort?

[Bastards Last Stand]

As far as I know, it's been officially confirmed that it was a bombing. There was apparently another explosion at the JFK presidential library as well (granted, reading the linked article, I see there's mention in a sidebar that the JFK incident was unrelated).

[Alluveal]

=(

[Ddrak]

I'm betting on a lone nutjob, probably with timers rather than remote detonators. An organized group should have had a much larger impact and would have used more shrapnel.

Dd

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Apparently they have footage of the bombs being planted and someone in custody: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/worl ... 6621194152

[Harlowe]

Allu, oh man, this was just so scary to me. I stay local now with races, but I use to run the NYCM regularly because I had a guaranteed entry through my employer. I never made a qualifying time for Boston, but it's a marathoners dream marathon.

During marathons there are so many choke points where you have literally thousands of people all herded together, it would have been a blood bath at the start of any large marathon.

[Ddrak]

During marathons there are so many choke points where you have literally thousands of people all herded together, it would have been a blood bath at the start of any large marathon.

That's what makes me think it was a lone nutjob, possibly targeting someone specific. If you were going for maximum effect then the finish line 2hrs after the first runners go through isn't really that great. Like you said - a choke point, the race start or the finish when the winner comes through would all make for a higher impact.

Dd

[Harlowe]

The Staten Island bridge or just directly off it (for the NYCM), is just packed...that would have been horrific.

I think it's the largest marathon in the world at nearly 47,000 participants now.

Ddrak, I agree. It feels like a Timothy McVeigh, or anti-gov't militia movement type bombing.

[Alluveal]

Just glad you weren't there, Harlowe. I hope that nobody you knew was harmed if you had any pals go.

I would not be surprised if this was some militia weirdo, but we'll see. I'm glad the other bombs did not go off.

[Ddrak]

I'm glad the other bombs did not go off.

There were no other bombs - media got it wrong.

Dd

[Turaylon Soulshadow]

Everyone around here is pretty shook up. Thankfully, all of my friends in Boston were alright. A couple friends used to work right across the street from where the explosion was.

[Harlowe]

The 4chan thinktank had an interesting collection of images.

http://imgur.com/a/sUrnA

[Embar Angylwrath]

My thoughts...

This was not a lone nutjob. The site had to be watched. There were bomb-sniffing dogs and law enforcement crawling over the site before the explosion, so someone had to give the "all clear to drop the bombs" message. There were at least two people, a controller and a bomb dropper, if not at least three.

The bombs were designed to maim and injure, not necessarily kill. The directional blast indicates the devices were designed to incapacitate a number of people in the lower extremities, requiring a large response from first responders and concerned citizens. I think once this is all sorted out, we will see a second element to the attack. I think the bombs were designed to draw in first responders, and the second attack (which didn't happen) would have been designed to kill everyone in the area. There are reports of a yellow Ryder truck pulling up with "medical supplies" that was either turned away or sped away when confronted. There is currently an APB on that vehicle, although the press has largely dropped it in favor of misreports of captured terrorists.

I think that truck had the second element of the attack in it, mot probably a suicide bomb ala Timothy McVeigh style, designed to take out thousands of cubic meters in all directions.

I have no opinion on the domestic v foreign debate, although I find it interesting the Al Queda manual on making pressure cooker bombs disappeared from the I-net shortly after the attack.

[Ddrak]

Don't fuck with anonymous - they will find you! 4chan photos are damn good.


@Embar: Doesn't make sense. Bombs were too powerful to draw people in, and in any case people were much more packed in before the blasts than after. 4chan pretty handily showed the guys were there with the bombs for hours before the blast. Running a truck-bomb in would have been a very low-probability option, and if you're organized enough to get 3 people in then you're not gonna run a low-probability op as the main punch. And lastly, how do you disappear something from the internet? Seriously?

Be interesting political situation for Obama if it was North Korea (which I seriously doubt it was, btw). Unlike Afghanistan, any moves to NK basically dooms half of Seoul to massive artillery strikes. Millions of allied deaths to avenge three? Not good politics. Not acting? Also not good politics.

Dd

[Nadia]

The 4chan thinktank had an interesting collection of images.

http://imgur.com/a/sUrnA

Two men probed in Boston Marathon bombings cleared by investigators
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/i ... fIyqbRWlLK

Investigators have now cleared the two men whose pictures were circulated last night in an email among law enforcement officials, sources told The Post today.

Authorities determined neither had any information or role in Monday’s attacks at the Boston Marathon.

The pictures, which were distributed yesterday evening in an attempt to identify them, show the two men standing with a backpack and duffel bag near the finish line, where a pair of bombs killed three and maimed 176.

[Harlowe]

These are the two they are looking for currently.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... i/2093037/

http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-inve ... ton/photos

[Nadia]

wiki summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamerlan_T ... r_Tsarnaev

[Taxious]

What an interesting age we live in.. the FBI releases photos and the internet hive mind churns out the details.

I thought about you, Harlowe

I actually did as well, and am glad to hear you are safe. (You are the only hardcore runner I know)