Thoughts and prayers to Boston, MA from S.E. USA

[jcarte29]

Horrific explosions at finish line of Boston Marathon in Boston, MA. God Bless to all those affected

[roadman]

As one who works in Downtown Boston (but was not in the office today - Patriots Day is a state holiday in MA), I for one appreciate your kind thoughts for us at this time.  Latest info is 2 confirmed dead and about 28 injured.  And most of our transit system is all but shut down in the downtown area, with major delays elsewhere.

As far as road and traffic impacts, most streets in the Copley Square area - including the Prudential Tunnel off-ramp from the Mass Pike east - were closed anyway due to the marathon.  Latest word is that those streets - and the Pike off-ramp - will now be closed indefinitely.

[jcarte29]

Anytime Roadman. Excellent details of the scene, I appreciate your future updates (and from anyone else in the area on this forum) more than the National News (watching Fox News currently). -JAC

[roadman]

Latest update - the transit system has mostly resumed service in the downtown area, but with "significant residual delays" (quote is from the MBTA alert I just got).

Copley Square and adjacent streets are still considered a crime scene, and will remain closed (including the Mass Pike exit ramp) for at least 24 hours, according to Boston Police.

[jcarte29]

Roadman, on injuries, I am hearing anywhere from 30 to 100+ , some critical but only 2 deaths, including an 8 year old boy. Is this accurate?

[roadman]

Roadman, on injuries, I am hearing anywhere from 30 to 100+ , some critical but only 2 deaths, including an 8 year old boy. Is this accurate?

Local media are currently reporting 80 injured, and have confirmed that one of the two deaths was an 8 year old boy.

[jcarte29]

Roadman, on injuries, I am hearing anywhere from 30 to 100+ , some critical but only 2 deaths, including an 8 year old boy. Is this accurate?

Local media are currently reporting 80 injured, and have confirmed that one of the two deaths was an 8 year old boy.

Boston Globe is the source I heard broke the story. Anyways, thank you again and I hope all is well with you and your loved ones who are in that area. -JAC

[Alps]

3 dead now reported, over 140 injured. Hopefully those responsible will be brought to slow, painful justice.

[barcncpt44]

Today was a bad day in America. The victims and their loved ones are going to need our prayers. I do think whoever did this will be caught!

[agentsteel53]

3 dead now reported, over 140 injured. Hopefully those responsible will be brought to slow, painful justice.

or quick and normal justice.  either is fine by me.

the less glory and attention we give them through unusual treatment, the better we are.  whoever is responsible are common criminals.  try them in as public a manner as the Constitution demands (and no more public than that), sentence them in accordance with the crimes they are found guilty of, and forget about them.

[kphoger]

3 dead now reported, over 140 injured. Hopefully those responsible will be brought to slow, painful justice.

or quick and normal justice.  either is fine by me.

the less glory and attention we give them through unusual treatment, the better we are.  whoever is responsible are common criminals.  try them in as public a manner as the Constitution demands (and no more public than that), sentence them in accordance with the crimes they are found guilty of, and forget about them.

Agreed.  Thank you for putting words to my thoughts.  Extra cruelty doesn't do anything for the victims, and only serves to lower ourselves to a baser level.  Vengeance does not equal justice.

[roadman65]

You know what gets me, is the fact that some commentators are bringing politics in to this.  Chris Matthews right away brings up the fact that extreme right wing people either are all or partly responsible.  Nearly 200 people are hurt, some even lost their legs, most of all three people killed including an eight year old boy, and he is using it as part of his crusade against the "other party."

Have respect Mr. Matthews for the families please.

[agentsteel53]

Chris Matthews right away brings up the fact that extreme right wing people either are all or partly responsible.

how has the FBI not hired this amazingly skilled and knowledgeable man?

[stormwatch7721]

More than 170 now injured in the latest report.

[NE2]

Congrats, roadman65, for keeping up with the right wing talking points. But you forgot to rebut with the fact that it was obviously a Muslim (and Muslims are all left wing, duh).

[Brandon]

You know what gets me, is the fact that some commentators are bringing politics in to this.  Chris Matthews right away brings up the fact that extreme right wing people either are all or partly responsible.

Matthews is a jerk IMHO (hence why I refuse to watch his show).  We don't know if it is extreme left, extreme right, jihadis, or just some nut - no one has come forward yet.  Jihadis are usually fairly forthcoming when they do an act like this so I don't think it is them this time.  Even political groups like to brag about committing acts like this.  My personal suspicion is that it is some nut with a grievance against the Boston Marathon organizers for some reason.

[Alps]

You know what gets me, is the fact that some commentators are bringing politics in to this.  Chris Matthews right away brings up the fact that extreme right wing people either are all or partly responsible.

Matthews is a jerk IMHO (hence why I refuse to watch his show).  We don't know if it is extreme left, extreme right, jihadis, or just some nut - no one has come forward yet.  Jihadis are usually fairly forthcoming when they do an act like this so I don't think it is them this time.  Even political groups like to brag about committing acts like this.  My personal suspicion is that it is some nut with a grievance against the Boston Marathon organizers for some reason.

I have doubts it's an organized act. Could it be a lone jihadist who thought he was doing Allah a favor? No knowing, yet. We can't even get straight whether anyone's been arrested.

[mtantillo]

You know what gets me, is the fact that some commentators are bringing politics in to this.  Chris Matthews right away brings up the fact that extreme right wing people either are all or partly responsible.

Matthews is a jerk IMHO (hence why I refuse to watch his show).  We don't know if it is extreme left, extreme right, jihadis, or just some nut - no one has come forward yet.  Jihadis are usually fairly forthcoming when they do an act like this so I don't think it is them this time.  Even political groups like to brag about committing acts like this.  My personal suspicion is that it is some nut with a grievance against the Boston Marathon organizers for some reason.

I have doubts it's an organized act. Could it be a lone jihadist who thought he was doing Allah a favor? No knowing, yet. We can't even get straight whether anyone's been arrested.

I have to agree with Steve here...this is most likely a "lone wolf" type, and we have no idea what his/her motives are.  Our intelligence folks are pretty good at what they do, and really the only way to reliably keep a plot a secret these days is when the plot is only contained in one person's head. 

I really hope that the crowdsourcing of photos and videos yields good information and an arrest soon. 

[vdeane]

We still have a huge problem with getting intelligence to where it needs to be and for acting on what we need to.  The solution is to re-vamp the classification system for the digital era.  What the government actually does is try to get even more intelligence yet and make an even bigger mess of the security clearance system (which is actually worse than useless as currently implemented as it ignores the realities of an inter-connected world; for example, if a terrorist operating in Somalia was trained in Iran, the Somalia analyst would be barred from even asking for information about the terrorist because he was trained outside of Somalia).

[triplemultiplex]

Vulnerability is the price of freedom.

Get well, Boston.

[roadman65]

They will catch the SOB believe me.  I do not think it was Al Qaeda as when they like to kill people, they like to brag about it to show how tough they are.  Still, no one claimed responsibility, so that leaves those people out. 

I think it is a lone nut, either politically motivated, or personally motivated.  Whatever, the motive, it is a lone wolf!

Right now, lets concentrate on the families of those involved as they need our thoughts and prayers.  One thing I will say with 110 percent accuracy is that many people did come to the aid of those injured without hesitation.  It is good to see those in action and glad that it was publicized for us to hear about.  I will not forget and I have to say it is great to see that many here on this forum are concerned.

Please do not unnecessarily inject politics or religion into this thread, unless you are going to give all sides equal attention.

[roadman]

Big developments in the past twenty-four hours.

A MIT police officer and one suspect are dead, a transit police officer was injured by gunfire, and the other suspect is still on the run.  Boston, Watertown, and several surrounding communities have been under a "shelter in place" order since daybreak Friday (4/19).  All streets in Watertown are still closed to traffic, and most of the road closures in the Copley Square area of Boston are still in place.

Other than the above, no major highways have been closed or otherwise affected, with the exception of the Callahan Tunnel, which has had major backups all day because of temporary security checkpoints that have been set up at the entrances to Logan Airport.

Boston's transit system has been completely shut down all day (no buses, subways, or trains at all - even in the communities outside the "hot zone").  Those that work in Boston or rely on the transit system were told to stay at home (which is why I didn't go into the office today).

Ironically, today had been designated as "We Are Boston Proud" day, whereby people going into Boston were encouraged to wear clothing (shirt or hat) showing pride in Boston.

Update as of 6:05 PM EDT - Governor Patrick has just lifted the "shelter in place" order, MBTA to run limited bus and subway service for the remainder of the evening, but commuter rail won't resume until tomorrow morning.

[JMoses24]

And now they have the second suspect pinned down in Watertown!

[corco]

[agentsteel53]

(which is why I didn't go into the office today)

I certainly hope you got paid!