Marathon bombing suspect pinned down in Watertown; believed to be hiding in boat

CAMBRIDGE , WATERTOWN

Sources: Marathon bombing suspect pinned down in Watertown; believed to be hiding in boat

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04/19/2013 7:49 PM

Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokar A. Tsarnaev, Suspect No. 2, is being sought in Watertown. His brother was killed in a confrontation with police.

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By Shelley Murphy, Milton J. Valencia, Wesley Lowery, Akilah Johnson, Eric Moskowitz, Lisa Wangsness, Brian MacQuarrie, Maria Cramer, John R. Ellement, Martin Finucane and Matt Rocheleau, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

WATERTOWN — Police have removed the cover from a boat in a Watertown backyard containing the man believed to be the Boston Marathon terror bombing suspect, a source tells the Globe.

Police believe they have located and pinned down the desperate 19-year-old man at that location, a separate source told the Globe. Residents also reported hearing shots fired and police racing to the area.

Police appeared to be moving with caution. They had said earlier in the day that they were concerned that 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev of Cambridge might be wearing a suicide bomb vest.

The new developments happened less than an hour after authorities announced that the suspect had eluded a dragnet, abandoning a car and escaping on foot.

Residents in the area described pandemonium outside their doors.

Lisa Bontempi said in a telephone interview, "There's a lot of shooting. ... I'm really scared. I've got to go."

"We're seeing every officer rushing to the corner. We've heard gunshots. We've got cops in bulletproof vests and an ambulance is there, with someone carrying out a stretcher,'' said Louise Harrison Lepera, another neighborhood resident.

"There's a lot of cops outside," said another resident, who declined to give her name. "Oh, my God, they're just crouched down by the cars. But I heard a couple of pops, I'm not sure what they were exactly."

Daniel Cantor, a resident of 84 Franklin Street, said he heard "a number of gunshots" in rapid succession just after 7:10 p.m.

He estimated it to be more than 30 gunshots but less than 50 to the west of his home, which is at 84 Franklin St., toward Washburn Street. "It was the kind that I did not want to be near," Cantor said.

Cantor said he, his wife, and two kids were hiding under a bed when a reporter called just after 7:15 p.m.

Heavily armed police had been searching a 20-block area of Watertown since about 11 p.m. Thursday night.

Scott Helman, Marcella Bombardieri, ­Brian MacQuarrie, Martine Powers, and Maria Sacchetti of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Jeremy C. Fox, Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, Jaclyn Reiss, and Gal Tziperman Lotan contributed to this report.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/18/mit-police-officer-hit-gunfire-cambridge-police-dispatcher-says/UAbtwLVGLwBE5VI7BUyQuL/story.html