One Boston Marathon suspect dead, another still on run, officials say
FBI.gov
The two marathon bombing suspects. The man in the white hat is still believed to be at large.
The Boston Marathon bombing suspects — armed with explosives and guns — battled law enforcement officers in a Boston suburb early Friday morning, unleashing chaos until cops took one of the men into custody and the other fled, law enforcement sources said.
Officials later said the suspect taken into custody died and authorities identified the man on the run as the "white-hat" suspect, referencing photographs released by the FBI Thursday. Authorities warned he should be considered armed and dangerous.
The standoff in Watertown, Mass., erupted shortly after the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. A transit police officer was also wounded in the Watertown fire fight, officials confirmed to NBC affiliate WHDH.
Watertown resident Andrew Kitzenberg says he had a "clear line of view" of what he said looked "like a pressure cooker bomb."
Officials in Watertown were warning residents to "stay in their homes and not open their doors unless a police officer is there."
"There is a terrorist on the loose," said one officer at an impromptu press conference at about 4:30 a.m. ET.
The suspect at large — believed to be the man who physically placed the bags containing the homemade bombs which killed 3 and injured 170 on Monday — was described as "dressed in a grey hoodie, light skinned male, brown curly hair."
Law enforcement sources said the suspects have international links and have been in the country legally for about a year.
The suspects approached the MIT officer and shot him in head, the sources said. The two then stole the MIT officer's cruiser, robbed a nearby 7-11 and carjacked a Mercedes SUV, briefly kidnapping the driver, the sources said. At various points, the suspects threw explosives out the window of the moving car.
The dead suspect had an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest and the law enforcement sources warned that the suspect on the run may as well.
Watertown resident Andrew Kitzenberg described the earlier police shoot out outside his house. “They engaged in gunfire for a few minutes,” Kitzenberg told NBC News. “They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight. They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.”
Kitzenberg said when he looked out the window he saw two people taking cover between a black Mercedes SUV and a sedan, and watched them shooting 70 or 80 yards toward six Watertown police vehicles.
He said the pair took cover behind the Mercedes SUV and were shooting westward toward the police officers. They also had backpacks.
“It was a firefight,” he added. “There was a long exchange of gunfire.”
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Police with guns drawn search for a suspect on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Mass. Earlier, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed late Thursday night at the school's campus in Cambridge. A short time later, police reported exchanging gunfire with alleged carjackers in Watertown, a city near Cambridge. It's not clear whether the shootings are related or whether either are related to the Boston Marathon bombing.
One of the shooters then ran toward the officers, while the other got into the SUV, Kitzenberg recounted.
The person on foot later fell to the ground, but Kitzenberg said he was unable to tell whether he had been tackled or shot.
The other drove the SUV through the line of police cars at the end of the street, he added.
Kitzenberg said that while he had a “very clear view of the shooters,” he couldn’t see their faces but described them as “average size, average height.”
During the gun battle, a bullet ended up in the wall of Kitzenberg’s apartment, which is on the second level of a multi-family home.
Rebecca Carbone, 30, stood on the street wearing pajamas and a sweatshirt and had stepped out when she heard sirens.
"We heard a loud blast and we didn't know what it was," Carbone said. "It sounded like a car backfiring."
John Grimes, 69, a retired letter carrier, said that he heard three loud explosions, "and you don't hear explosions at night a lot."
