A lmost two years to the day after I first reported about the two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon — which occurred within 15 seconds and 100 meters of each other approximately four hours after the race started, killing three people and injuring at least 260 other people — the one surviving suspect of the bombings was convicted earlier today on all 30 counts charged against him.
The actions of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev resulted in terror to participants and spectators in the oldest continuously operating annual marathon in the world; and there is a chance that he could be sentenced to death by a grand jury in the second phase of his trial, which starts next week, according to this article written by multiple staff reporters of The Boston Globe.
At least 17 of those injured people reportedly had limbs amputated. One of the fatalities was a boy who was only eight years old.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also convicted of of murdering a police officer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology several days after the bombing; and “battling police in a wild firefight in Watertown just outside of Boston several days after the bombing”, according to that same article.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev — the other suspect and brother of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — was shot multiple times by law enforcement officers in the Watertown incident in the early morning hours of Friday, April 19, 2013. He later died from his injuries after being apprehended by police officers.
Ball bearings were suspected to have been used as shrapnel in the explosions, exacerbating the number of people who were injured.
Several modes of transportation were completely shut down temporarily, including Logan International Airport — flights which had Boston as a destination were restricted at their originating airports due to a ground stop, while the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States imposed flight restrictions over the site of the explosion — as well as select subway and commuter rail lines. Streets around the area of Copley Square were blocked.
Cellular telephone service was also temporarily cut off to thwart attempts to remotely detonate other explosive devices.
In response to this situation, Delta Air Lines had released an announcement that it has issued a waiver of its change fee through April 20, 2013 for those passengers who needed to change their itineraries and flight plans.
FlyerTalk members had coordinated an effort to donate frequent travel loyalty program miles and points towards aiding family members of those who were directly affected by the explosions but could not afford to travel to them.
The Westin Copley Place Boston — a hotel property at which I have stayed many times — was used as a base for media coverage. It hosted the governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and many member of local, national and international media covering this situation. The Boston Marriott Copley Place — another hotel property at which I have stayed many times — as well as the Lenox Hotel were reportedly evacuated as a precaution.
My thoughts still go out to the victims of this incident — as well as to their families and friends…
