While on the run last night, the brothers car jacked a vehicle and apparently forced the driver to take them around town and make ATM withdrawals in order to build up a war chest for their escape. The circumstances are unclear but at some point in the night they made contact with law enforcement and a firefight broke out, killing Officer Sean Collier.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pzCYi_XxeQ&w=640&h=385]
A chase ensued with the brothers throwing improvised grenades at the police in pursuit before they stopped the car and unloaded with semi-automatic weapons (fully automatic according to some reports but that seems in doubt when listening to the audio track in the above video). The exact details of what happened next are no doubt being investigating by Boston PD but initial reports state that one of the brothers threw a smoke grenade and then the older brother, Tamerlan, charged the police while firing at them. The younger brother got back in the stolen Mercedes and took off, possibly running over his brother while smashing between two police vehicles, taking off doors and mirrors.
The 19-year old Dzhokhar made it a couple more blocks before abandoning the vehicle and bailing out on foot. Blood splatter was found around the vehicle which was also pockmarked with bullets from police gunfire. It is highly likely that Dzhokhar is injured while he is still on the lam.
It appears that attempts were made to save Tamerlan’s life by law enforcement officers after he had been shot and possibly ran over by his younger brother. You can see in pictures that have been leaked onto the internet of the corpse that an incision was made in his side, probably to stop internal bleeding. It was also discovered in the morgue that Tamerlan had been wearing a suicide vest all a long with an attached detonation device. If he hadn’t been shot/run over he probably would have blown himself up once Police Officers moved in to make the arrest.
A perimeter was established in Watertown after the shoot out to catch Dzhokhar but without success. Helicopters were called off because of low cloud cover and after searching the entire neighborhood sector by sector on foot they have not found the suspect. He either quickly slipped out of the perimeter before it could be closed or he crawled into the Charles River, bled out, froze, or both until he died. At this point nothing has been confirmed.
The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is now involved as are US Military units, more than likely EOD although JSOC personnel could be called in with Presidential approval but that seems unnecessary in this manhunt. The brother’s apartment was also raided where it is reported that firearms and pipebombs were found, enough that there is good reason to think that they were planning a second wave of attacks.
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