Posted on 04/26/2013 10:55:02 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
After more than 18 hours of gunfights and door-to-door searches, the Boston Police Department and its partners in the greater metropolitan area were prepared for anything when they finally caught up with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. According to the Washington Post and the Associated Press, however, the same couldn’t be said for Tsarnaev. Despite initial reports of a firefight and possibly a suicide attempt, police now acknowledge that the younger terrorist was unarmed when they finally discovered him hiding in a boat in Watertown:
Although police feared he was heavily armed, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding, according to multiple federal law enforcement officials.
Authorities said they were desperate to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev so he could be questioned. The FBI, however, declined to discuss what prompted the gunfire.
Other law enforcement officials said the shooting may have been prompted by the chaos of the moment and some action that led the officers to believe Tsarnaev had fired a weapon or was about to detonate explosives.
What may have caused the gunfire from the police? Well, it’s really not difficult to figure that out:
“They probably didn’t know whether he had a gun,” said one law enforcement official, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. “Hours earlier, he and his brother had killed a police officer, shot another officer and thrown explosives out of their cars as the police were chasing them. They couldn’t assume that he did not have a gun and more explosives.”
I’m reminded of a scene from Unforgiven, where Clint Eastwood shoots the saloon owner after seeing Morgan Freeman’s body on display outside of it. When Gene Hackman says, “You just shot an unarmed man!”, Eastwood replies, “He should’ve armed himself if he was going to decorate his saloon with my friend.” More to the point, though, one of their colleagues was already not going to see his family ever again, and more than a dozen or so other colleagues were wounded because of Tsarnaev, and they didn’t want to take a risk that they’d be next. If they were a little tense and quick on the trigger, it’s an issue that they will need to take up later, but still understandable.
At any rate, Tsarnaev survived and is expected to recover. He’s not talking much any more, though, after having been given his Miranda warning:
The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.
After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney’s office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.
If they had planned to keep questioning him, why bring in the judge and file the charges? They could have waited another day or so to arraign Tsarnaev, especially since this took place over a weekend. I’m not sure any judge — particularly at the federal level — would skip advising a defendant of his rights in a case involving a criminal charge.
Still, it doesn’t make much difference in the criminal case anyway. Dzhokhar admitted his involvement in the bombing case to their kidnap victim, murdered a police officer, and engaged in a shootout that resulted in the death of his co-conspirator, which makes him eligible for a murder charge on that point, too. He’s not going anywhere for a very long time whether he talks or not. The damage comes in the loss of intelligence on whether larger connections in the case exist, but there is some question as to whether Dzhokhar would have known of them even if they exist.
That “take him alive for the info” thing sure didn’t work out.
Too bad they didn’t shoot the bas-ard anyway.
Maybe more will come out on that.
The judge and the public defender “showed up” because they were required by law to do so once the Justice Department filed its criminal complaint.
When I heard they had found joker, I immediately thought they were going to Dorner him. I was extremely surprised that he was taken alive. From this article, it sounds like that’s what Leo had planned, too. He’s lucky to be alive.
So if the guy might have explosives,...you would still try to sneak up real close?
Can you imagine these “warriors” encountering 50 well armed patriots, some combat veterans?
They better bring some MRAPs. Oh, hey.
People are indicted every week for sending $2,000 to their family members in Islamic countries if they are on terrorism watch lists.
How is this any different?
fedgov law enforcement knows quite well that dead men tell no tales. Their SOP for years has been to kill everyone they are after. That way there are no facts to get in the way of the script.
>It took how many federal agents, throwing down 200+ rounds at an unarmed 19 year old kid, to subdue him?<
.
This unarmed 19-year old kid had the entire city in lockdown for awhile.
Imagine what would happen if there were a couple of terrorist cells working as a team. All of MA would probably be isolated from the rest of the US.
Clearly a boot-licker.
I thought there was a time period before they were required to show up....?
The sad thing is that Bush let the criminals in the Clinton administration get away with all of their misdeeds after he took power. The Bushes are part of the establishment club and didn’t want to be viewed as “unsporting” by going after Janet Reno, Clinton, Gore or those who stole stuff from the White House. That’s why Dems love RINOs. It still galls me every time I see Bush Sr. yucking it up with Clinton. It describes the Washington establishment in a single photo.
And there they were throwing explosives at the police/
CNN: Tsarnaev’s mother added to TIDE list, too
Hot Air ^ | 10:41 am on April 26, 2013 | Ed Morrissey
....the Video interview says he was armed.
Some of the bombing victims will indeed file lawsuits against the Feds and the state of MA over these very reasons
How did he blow out his vocal cords without a gun? Too many questions, and frankly, the .gov is full of asshats who would lie and say anything to cover their rears.
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