Chaos reigned in the final hours of Boston Marathon bombing manhunt, report finds

Chaos reigned in the final hours of Boston Marathon bombing manhunt, report finds

A report found that police officers were firing recklessly toward the general vicinity of the Tsarnaev brothers during the Watertown shooting.

A frenzied manhunt and firefight that ended the search for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his since-deceased older brother Tamerlan in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 was marked by both chaos and bravery.

A 130-page report by the state was released that delved into the law enforcement response following the bombing and subsequent capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to a Wall Street Journal report. It concluded that the response to the bombing was largely a success, but it included risky use of weapons that could have gotten other innocent people hurt.

The manhunt included a wide range of groups, who coordinate quickly and efficiently, as well as ordinary people who helped the wounded. Every person that made it to the hospital ended up surviving the attack, which killed three people at the scene and injured scores others, including 17 that lost limbs.

However, the report noted that there was chaos in the final hours three days after the bombing, when Dzhokhar and his older brother Tamerlan, attempted to flee the area when surveillance pictures of them were released. Tamerlan was gunned down in a firefight with officers in Watertown, Mass., as his younger brother escaped in a vehicle.

Officers who arrived on the scene after the shootout in Watertown had already begun were firing their weapons in the general vicinity of the suspects in their zeal to take down the subjects without attempting to line up a target.

The report praised the four officers who first encountered the suspects and battled back against a hail of gunfire.

The report, titled “After Action Report for the Response to the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings,” was a joint effort between a number of Massachusetts agencies, including the city of Boston, the state National Guard, state police, and numerous others.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail