News- Created on 18 April 2013
FBI Releases Photos, Video of Boston Bomb Suspects
(CNN) -- The FBI on Thursday released photos and video of two men it called suspects in the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon and pleaded for public help in identifying them.
The two men were photographed walking together near the finish line of the marathon before the explosions that killed three people and wounded about 180. One of the two men was seen setting down a backpack at the site of the second explosion "within minutes" of the blast, said Special Agent Rick DesLauriers, the head of the FBI's Boston office.
"Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members of the suspects," DesLauriers said. "And though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward and provide it to us."
But he cautioned that the men should be considered armed and "extremely dangerous."
"No one should approach them. No one should attempt to apprehend them except law enforcement," he said.
The announcement capped a day in which President Barack Obama brought a mixture of reassurance and defiance to an interfaith memorial service in the city's Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Whoever planted the bombs "picked the wrong city" to attack, he said.
"Every one of us stands with you," Obama told the crowd. "Boston may be your hometown -- but we claim it, too. ... For millions of us, what happened on Monday is personal."
Addressing the still-unknown perpetrators, Obama added, "Yes, we will find you. And yes, you will face justice. We will hold you accountable." And he looked ahead to next year's race, predicting that "the world will return to this great American city to run even harder and to cheer even louder for the 118th Boston Marathon. Bet on it."
Among the crowd of about 2,000 were first lady Michelle Obama; the president's Republican challenger last November, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; the state's current governor, Deval Patrick; and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. During an interlude, attendees were soothed by a performance by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Menino praised each of the three bystanders who were killed in the blasts -- Martin Richard, described as a "young boy with a big heart"; Krystle Campbell, whose spirit "brought her to the marathon year after year"; and Lingzu Lu, who "came to the city in search of an education."
The audience also included scores of police officers and other first responders. Crowds erupted in cheers as the cathedral emptied out at the end of the service, while others sang the national anthem.
Obama later stopped at a high school to thank a group of first responders and volunteers, and the first lady met with patients, families and hospital staff at Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, the White House said.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, investigators were combing through surveillance video dating to at least a week before the bombings to try to identify anyone who walked the finish-line route before the race, said a source who receives regular updates on the investigation.
Working leads
On Wednesday, a law enforcement official who is being regularly briefed on the investigation told CNN's Susan Candiotti that images showing two men near the marathon finish line were being circulated to state and federal law enforcement agencies. The source described the men as "possible suspects."
But a source told CNN's Deb Feyerick on Thursday that those individuals are no longer of high interest to investigators.
The men faced scrutiny and were considered potentially important to the case because one of them had been carrying a black backpack close to one of the bombing sites.
Asked about the images at a congressional hearing Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged caution.
"There is some video that has raised the question of those that the FBI would like to speak with," she said. "I wouldn't characterize them as suspects under the technical term."
She said the investigation is "proceeding apace."
Federal authorities were also contacting the maker of a battery found amid the debris of the blasts, said Benjamin Mull, a vice president at Tenergy Corporation. One of the firm's batteries was found in the aftermath of the attack, connected to some wires and a piece of plastic. The battery is typically used in remote-controlled hobby cars, Mull told CNN's Joe Johns.
And on Wednesday, two sources with knowledge of the investigation identified a man as a possible suspect in the attack but did not name him.
Seen on a video, the man wore a white baseball cap. One of the sources added that the cap was on backward and the man was also wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and a black jacket.
The reports came after a chaotic day in which some law enforcement sources initially told media outlets that a suspect had been arrested, only to have the FBI and Boston police issue formal denials that any suspect was in custody.
Patrick urged patience to allow investigators space to do their job.
"I wish they had nailed the perpetrator within minutes of this catastrophe, but I understand from experience it's going to take some time," he said.
Details of bombs
Investigators say the bombs, which exploded 12 seconds apart, were designed to deliver the most vicious suffering.
One was housed in a pressure cooker hidden inside a backpack, the FBI said. The device also had fragments that may have included nails, BBs and ball bearings, the agency said.
The second bomb was in a metal container, but it was unclear whether it was in a pressure cooker as well, the FBI said.
Photos obtained by CNN show the remains of a pressure cooker found at the scene, along with a shredded black backpack and what appear to be metal pellets or ball bearings.
They were sent to the FBI's national laboratory in Virginia, where technicians will try to reconstruct the devices.
In the past, the U.S. government has warned federal agencies that terrorists could turn pressure cookers into bombs by packing them with explosives and shrapnel and detonating them with blasting caps.
While the clues moved the investigation forward, it is still unclear whether the attack was an act of domestic or foreign terrorism.
Authorities sifted through thousands of pieces of evidence and a mass of digital photos and video clips. They have pleaded for the public's help in providing additional leads and images.
Casualty update
More than 60 people remained hospitalized Thursday in Boston-area medical centers, seven of them in critical condition, according to hospital officials.
The three dead include:
• Richard, the 8-year-old boy with a gap-tooth grin and bright eyes. He loved to run and play in his yard.
• Campbell, a 29-year-old freckle-faced woman described by her mother as having "a heart of gold."
• Lu, the Chinese graduate student at Boston University who had moved to the city last fall, making friends and soaking up new experiences.
The U.S. State Department has been in contact with her family and the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement released Thursday.
"We stand ready to provide whatever appropriate assistance we can to the family members of foreign nationals in the aftermath of this despicable act of terror," Kerry said.
CNN's Laura Dolan, Deborah Feyerick, Tom Watkins, Susan Candiotti, Henry Hanks, Fran Townsend, Matt Smith, Dave Alsup, Henry Hanks, Rande Iaboni, Gloria Borger and John King contributed to this report.
- Created on 18 April 2013
DeKalb County Educators Indicted in Cheating Scandal
The Atlanta Business Chronicle broadcast partner WXIA is reporting that three former DeKalb County educators were indicted for cheating on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT).
According to WXIA, former Cedar Grove Middle School principal Agnes Flanagan, former Rock Chapel Elementary School principal Angela Jennings, and former Stoneview Elementary school assistant principal Derek Wooten were indicted on Tuesday for charges similar to the 35 Atlanta Public School educators who were indicted earlier this month.
Additionally, the broadcast station reports the indictments said:
Jennings changed attendance reports to keep poor-performing students from taking tests.
Flanagan is accused of altering test scores and encouraging others to change answers.
Wooten is accused of changing attendance records to reflect better performance.
- Created on 18 April 2013
Mississippi Man Arrested For Sending Poisonous Letter to President Obama
Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Mississippi has been arrested for sending a letter laced with the poison ricin to President Barack Obama, reports the L.A. Times.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service said Curtis was taken into custody at 5:15 p.m.
In addition to President Obama, Curtis also sent ricin-laced letters to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and a
...
- Created on 18 April 2013
DeKalb County Officer Pulls Gun on Teen at McDonalds Drive-Through
Scott Biumi of the DeKalb County Police Department has been arrested after surveillance footage captured him pulling his gun on a teen at a fast food drive-through, the Forsyth News reports.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office charged the 48-year-old cop with aggravated assault in
...
- Created on 17 April 2013
CNN Source: 'Significant Progress,' But No Arrest in Bombing
(CNN) -- Investigators scrambling to solve the fatal bombing at the Boston Marathon have made "significant progress" in the case but no arrests, a federal law enforcement source told CNN Wednesday.
The FBI also officially confirmed in a statement that no arrests had been made.
The denials came after sources previously told CNN that a suspect was in custody.
One federal law enforcement source told CNN that "anyone who says 'arrest' is ahead of themselves."
A Boston law enforcement told CNN, "We got him," but won't clarify whether that means a suspect has been identified or arrested.
Some federal sources said it was even too early to say investigators had identified the suspect, but several sources in Boston told CNN that they have a clear identification.
The back-and-forth developments came after a chaotic day in which investigators revealed more details about the makeup of the bombs and apparently unrelated scares over letters containing ricin gripped the nation's capital.
The bombs exploded 12 seconds apart near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding about 180 others.
One of the bombs was housed in a pressure cooker hidden inside a backpack, the FBI said in a joint intelligence bulletin. The device also had fragments that may have included nails, BBs and ball bearings, the agency said.
The second bomb was also housed in a metal container, but it was not clear whether it too was in a pressure cooker, the FBI said.
The U.S. government has warned federal agencies in the past that terrorists could turn pressure cookers into bombs by packing them with explosives and shrapnel and detonating them with blasting caps.
The bombs
Photos obtained by CNN show the remains of a pressure cooker found at the scene, along with a shredded black backpack and what appear to be metal pellets or ball bearings.
Scraps of at least one pressure cooker, nails and nylon bags found at the scene were sent to the FBI's national laboratory in Virginia, where technicians will try to reconstruct the devices, the agent leading the investigation said Tuesday.
The pieces suggest each of the devices was 6 liters (about 1.6 gallons) in volume, a Boston law enforcement source said. The recovered parts include part of a circuit board, which might have been used to detonate a device.
A law enforcement official said Monday's bombs were probably detonated by timers. But the FBI said details of the detonating system were unknown.
While the clues moved the investigation forward, they did not make it immediately apparent whether the attack was an act of domestic or foreign terrorism.
"If your experience and your expertise is Middle East terrorism, it has the hallmarks of al Qaeda or a Middle East group," former FBI Assistant Director Tom Fuentes said. "If your experience is domestic groups and bombings that have occurred here, it has the hallmarks of a domestic terrorist like Eric Rudolph in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombings."
Fuentes said he has investigated both types of terrorism -- from Iraq to the United States -- and finds the Boston attack has elements of both. "It has the hallmarks of both domestic and international (attacks), and you can see either side of that."
Third victim identified
Boston University identified graduate student Lingzu Lu as the third person who died in Monday's bombings.
Previously identified were Krystle Campbell, 29, of Arlington, Massachusetts, and Martin Richard, 8, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
"She was the best," Campbell's distraught mother, Patty, told reporters Tuesday. "You couldn't ask for a better daughter."
Martin "was a bright, energetic young boy who had big dreams and high hopes for his future," his school said in a statement. "We are heartbroken by this loss."
The hunt for the attacker
The attack left Boston police with "the most complex crime scene that we've dealt with in the history of our department," Commissioner Ed Davis said Tuesday.
Authorities sifted through thousands of pieces of evidence and a mass of digital photos and video clips leading up to Wednesday's arrest. They had pleaded for the public's help in providing additional leads and images.
"Someone knows who did this," said Rick DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office said. "The community will play a crucial role in this investigation."
Medical personnel treating the wounded found evidence suggesting the bombmaker or bombmakers sought to maximize the suffering.
Dr. George Velmahos, head of trauma care at Massachusetts General Hospital, said his team found metal pellets and nails inside patients' bodies.
"They are numerous. There are people who have 10, 20, 30, 40 of them in their body, or more," Velmahos said.
While most of the patients treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital were wounded by "ordinary debris," three were struck by "perfectly round objects" that were uniform, consistent and metallic, the hospital's chairman of emergency medicine said.
Dr. Ron Walls also said one patient had more than 12 carpenter-type nails.
"There is no question some of these objects were implanted in the device for the purpose of being exploded forward," he said.
Victims continue recovery
As investigators closed in on a suspect, those wounded in the incident continued to recover.
Boston Medical Center has two patients in critical condition, down from 11 just after the bombings, Dr. Peter Burke, chief of trauma care, told reporters Wednesday. Ten patients are in serious condition and seven are in fair condition, he said.
The incident deeply affected thousands, including Candace Rispoli, who was cheering on a friend when the festive atmosphere turned into a "terrifying hell." She suffered minor injuries.
"I personally will never participate in an event of this nature in a city in fear that something like this could happen again," she said. "I keep replaying the moments of terror over and over in my head and am just still in utter shock. Always seeing terrible things of this nature happen all over the world on TV, my heart would always go out to those directly affected. But I never imagined in a million years I would be a spectator at the Boston Marathon running for my life."
CNN's Fran Townsend, Matt Smith, Dave Alsup, Henry Hanks, Susan Candiotti, Rande Iaboni, Gloria Borger and John King contributed to this report.
