According to The Wall Street Journal, police found five explosive devices within the city limits. FBI Special Agent in Boston Richard DeLaurier neither confirmed nor denied this information. According to official data, three people were killed and more than 144 were injured. The victims have been hospitalized in eight Massachusetts hospitals, and some are in critical condition.
US investigators led by FBI agents are reviewing numerous videos and photos for a lead. Experts say that due to the large crowd, police and Department of Homeland Security officials have a lot of visual material that could shed light on what happened before and immediately after the explosions.
Officials suggest that Islamic militants or anti-government extremists may be involved. The first theory is supported by the pattern of the tragedy: two explosions almost simultaneously and not far from each other near a crowd. The extremist theory is supported by the fact that the bombs went off on Tax Day and Patriot Day. As of Monday evening (early Tuesday morning in Ukraine), there had been no warning about the planned explosions. 'There were no explicit threats,' said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
Police are now scouring the entire 42-kilometer marathon route for possible clues, and the blast area is cordoned off. Armed guards have been posted at local hospitals. State authorities have warned people to stay home if possible and not gather in large groups in open spaces. The CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center have joined the investigation. Meanwhile, investigators warned police to be on the lookout for 'swarthy or dark-skinned men,' possibly with foreign accents.
According to police, five minutes before the first explosion, a man in a sweater with a black backpack tried to enter the cordoned-off section of the marathon. It is not yet known if he has any connection to the Boston tragedy.
The explosions, seconds apart, knocked runners off their feet. Many athletes were heading to the finish when the first deafening blast occurred near the photo finish stand, right where spectators had gathered to support the marathoners. Joyful shouts turned into screams of horror and moans. When the smoke cleared, dozens of victims lay on the ground, many unconscious, some severely wounded.
'I saw people whose legs were torn off. Their legs were covered in blood. Then I saw them being wheeled in wheelchairs to the ambulance,' recalls 33-year-old Massachusetts fisherman Joe Anderson.
According to Governor Deval Patrick, the victims of the explosions were very seriously injured. 'Many have shrapnel wounds and will require numerous limb amputations in the coming days,' said Massachusetts General Hospital surgeon Peter Fagenholz. 'Many were injured by small metal fragments,' the doctor clarified. He said he removed metal pellets from wounds, and the blast wave propagated low, so people were mainly wounded in the lower parts of the body.
Ambulances, fire trucks, and dozens of police cars arrived at the scene immediately. Despite the panic and chaos that followed the explosions, people did not disperse and tried to help.
Among the dead is an 8-year-old boy. At Boston Children's Hospital, a 9-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy, and two other children aged 12 and 2 are being treated for injuries of varying severity.
Witnesses recall the Boston Marathon tragedy with horror. 'I heard a deafening bang. I'm still shaking all over,' says Melissa Stanley, who saw her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosion.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said at a press conference that 'powerful devices' had exploded. The blasts occurred 45–90 meters apart. Spectators and fans usually line the entire 42 km of the marathon, and the largest crowd is right at the finish line.
Marathon runner Mike Mitchell from Vancouver, Canada, crossed the finish line and turned around to see the explosion. 'Smoke rose about fifteen meters,' Mitchell said. 'People scattered and started screaming when they heard the blast. Everyone was panicking.'
Marathon participant Teresa Panther saw the explosion as she approached the finish line: 'When I heard the bomb and saw the spectators' reaction, I was just scared. And then one of the spectators forcefully pulled me back.' Teresa's husband Allan Panther, who was among the spectators, said the blast literally knocked six people to the ground in front of him. 'They actually shielded me from the blast. One woman was bleeding profusely, one man had his legs blown off,' Panther described.
Runner Linda Claire Willette crossed the finish line and headed to friends at a nearby bar to celebrate her personal record. She had barely texted her friend Stephanie Douglas 'coming' when the explosion occurred. 'The blast was so strong that the bar filled with smoke and chairs fell over. I saw people at the site of the explosion – they literally flew into the air,' Douglas says. She ran out of the bar to look for her friend Willette, whose phone was already not answering. 'Outside, I saw a man whose legs were blown off. And he was still trying to get up,' the woman says in horror.
Stephanie Douglas and Claire Willits finally met, they burst into tears and hugged. And then a second explosion rang out. "I feel like I'm in a stupor," runner Willits told CNN reporters. "What I saw is just tearing my heart apart." Claire Willits started participating in marathons about ten years ago, when her daughter was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. "This is all terrible," Willits said through tears. "But right now I feel that we cannot just stop doing things we love, because otherwise terrorism will win."
The explosions in Boston will be investigated as terrorist attacks, Reuters reports, citing the White House press office. Earlier, US President Barack Obama said that the Department of Homeland Security continues to monitor the situation. "All federal government forces have been deployed to Boston to help the state government and local administration protect our people, increase security in the United States as much as possible, and investigate what happened," Obama said. "We do not yet know who did this and why. We should not jump to conclusions. But we will definitely find out who is behind today's events, and they will feel the full force of American justice," the president added.
The annual Boston Marathon has been held since 1987, and each time about 20 thousand runners participate in the competition, and about half a million spectators gather to watch them. What happened in Boston became the first tragedy of such magnitude on US soil since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, after which the country's government significantly strengthened security controls.