The blasts in Boston Marathon bombing put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C., and New York City, sites of the September 11 attacks.
Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, turning a celebration into a bloody scene of destruction. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Monday night that the death toll had risen to three. Scores were injured at the scene. One of the dead was an 8-year-old boy, according to a state law enforcement source.
Hospitals reported at least 144 people are being treated, with at least 17 of them in critical condition and 25 in serious condition. At least eight of the patients are children.
According to Reuters, investigators searched today for the person or group responsible for planting two bombs at the Boston Marathon. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation led a battery of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies on the case, while critically wounded victims of Monday’s blasts fought for their lives and others contemplated a new life as amputees.
The bombs ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, shattering the annual civic celebration on the Patriots’ Day state holiday while tens of thousands of people packed the street to cheer on the runners.
The two devices using gunpowder as the explosive were packed with ball bearings and other shrapnel to maximize injuries, said a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.
No one has been arrested in the bombing. A White House official said the case would be treated as an act of terrorism but it had yet to be determined whether the attack came from a foreign or domestic source. “It is a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation,” said Richard DesLauriers, the FBI special agent in charge for Boston.
Many runners were heading for the finish when a fireball and smoke rose from behind cheering spectators and a row of flags representing the countries of participants, video from the scene showed. The two explosions came moments apart some four hours and nine minutes into the race, long after the world-class runners had finished but around the time average contestants were arriving.
Many of the victims were gravely injured, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said. Some suffered shrapnel wounds and amputations and will require repeat operations in the coming days, said Peter Fagenholz, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors treated 29 patients including eight who were in critical condition, Fagenholz said. Many of the seriously injured patients had suffered bone, soft tissue and vascular damage to their legs, he said. “We’re seeing a lot of shrapnel injuries” from small metal debris, Fagenholz told reporters outside the hospital. There had been “several” amputations, he said. “A number of patients will require repeat operations tomorrow and serial operations over the next couple of days,” Fagenholz said.
The blasts put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C., and New York City, sites of the September 11 attacks.
The annual Boston Marathon, held since 1897, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
