Boston on Lockdown

Along with Watertown, Cambridge, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, and the entire MBTA system.  They're telling everyone in these towns to stay inside with the doors locked, and only open for properly identified law enforcement officers.  Nobody on the road, nobody on the street.

I guess you know the news, unless this is the first place you clicked when you woke up: two brothers from Chechnya are the bombing suspects, and one of them, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shootout in Watertown last night; the other is still at large somewhere nearby.  They shot and killed a policeman at MIT, and shot and seriously wounded an MBTA policeman.  The suspect at large is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19 years old.  Last night, they still had and were using explosives.

Scary situation.

Comments

[kathy a.]

hope our boston friends are OK.

from the onion (posted yesterday): http://www.theonion.com/articles/jesus-this-week,32105/

[kathy a.]

how do you put a metro area on lockdown?

[Sir Charles]

This is all pretty amazing and strange. Watertown is very close to Brandeis -- probably less than five miles to Watertown Square -- and the route these guys took post carjacking is one that you would take into Cambridge if going by car.

Hard to imagine what could motivate this kind of madness, although it sounds like the older brother got religion in his 20s -- often a dangerous phenomenon.

Very sorry for the additional victims -- who the hell imagines getting killed in the line of duty as an MIT cop? Jesus.

[low-tech cyclist]

From kathy's Onion link:

"Maybe next time we have a week, they can try not to pack it completely to the fucking brim with explosions, mutilations, death, manhunts, lies, weeping, and the utter uselessness of our political system," said basically every person in America who isn't comatose or a complete sociopath. "You know, maybe try to spread some of that total misery across the other 51 weeks in the year. Just a thought."

"Gotta hand it to this week, though," added the entire American populace, laughing and crying at the same time. "It's a motherfucker."

Can't argue with that. And the scary thing is, nobody in the conventional media will say it half as well.

[oddjob]

how do you put a metro area on lockdown?

You shut down public transportation and taxi service, and advise people to stay indoors for their own safety.

[oddjob]

Apparently the MBTA policeman has come out of surgery and is now in critical condition.

[oddjob]

There also is no Amtrak service between Boston & Providence until further notice.

[oddjob]

I'm at home. I rely on public transit to commute to work and received permission from my boss earlier today to take the day off, even if the trains resumer service later today.

[oddjob]

Sir C. knows this, but to fill in those who may want to know my residence is on the shoreline about ten miles north of Boston. It's nowhere near the events of last night, which took place just north of Boston and then in Watertown, which is to Boston's west.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

Who would have thought of Lynn as the safe place to be.

Morbid humor moment of the morning as wife and I were having morning coffee in front of the TV:

Wife: God, that kid is two months younger than [our son].

SC: Yeah, but he's got a lot more initiative. You would have had to buy the pressure cookers for him. And even then I can imagine the conversation: "[Son] do you think those pressure cookers are going to fill themselves with shrapnel?"

It would seem that there are a lot worse things than your kid having difficulty getting stuff done.

[kathy a.]

oddjob -- glad you are away from the action.

SC -- heh. i got rid of my pressure cooker, because i figured that one day i'd forget it on the stove and we'd have a stew explosion. (honest: that's the kind of raw talent i have.)

one of my friends just pointed out: it is too burdensome to do a 5 minute background check on gun purchasers, but not too burdensome to shut down an entire city to find the madman bomber/shooter. (i'm not saying checks would have stopped this tragedy; just that the burdensome-ness excuse is idiotic.)

[paula]

Also, FBI in NJ and MD talking to family members.
Feds planning to do a "controlled explosion" of house in Watertown this afternoon.
Logan is open but no air traffic allowed over Watertown.
In DC--Metro Center shut down. Don't know if that's related.

[low-tech cyclist]

And we shouldn't forget that the NRA, among its other evils, has blocked the effort to get taggants into gunpowder, ammonia-based fertilizer ingredients, etc. for decades. We now apparently know who the bombers were, but if we didn't, this is the sort of thing that could have made a critical difference.

[nancy]

Class warfare American style. Something tells me there's an (R) after that Rep.

[oddjob]

oddjob,

Who would have thought of Lynn as the safe place to be.

;)

(For those who don't know, Lynn used to be a major shoe manufacturing city, one of a few such in the Boston area, an area that used to be known for shoe manufacturing before the factories left. It's never really recovered from the loss of that industry and has long since had a less than savory reputation, although on its edges it has some very nice neighborhoods, including the one where I live.)

[oddjob]

Class warfare American style.

I saw that quote earlier today and could only think to myself that the last thing I'd want in such a situation would be an assault rifle.

[Sir Charles]

I would like to think it was my email to Mr. Bell:

Representative Bell,

Please be assured that unlike inbred cowards such as yourself, folks in Boston don’t piss their pants and run for the gun closet every time something bad happens.

I would suggest a discrete silence on your part in these matters would better serve you, rather than opening your mouth and removing all doubt.

Sincerely,

Sir Charles

[oddjob]

Just heard on the news that Amtrak has now been suspended between Boston & NYC (before it was Providence) until further notice.

[paula]

Tried topost this earlier but blog was down, for at least 30 minutes (an eternity to me!):
http://t.co/Mmutk42lJm
photo was posted twitter around noon.
Since then, they are going door to door, block by blook, also are on UMass Dartmouth campus checking his dorm and locker.

Stupid Rep Bell publicly apologized for the timing of his comment, but not the content or intent. I wrote to him, too. on twitter, since he's not worth more bandwidth:
phbehnken ‏@phbehnken 2h
@NateBell4AR In Mass, we don't cower or yearn to kill. We leave police work to the professionals. Pray you never need us. Have a nice day.

[nancy]

I read a report today in the Daily Mail [?] that the older brother was married to a convert in RI and was father to a three-year old girl. Also a domestic violence disturbance logged against him from when he was 22. Also, that the younger brother was flunking many of his classes at UMass Dartmouth. Dad is in MD, there's a mug-shot of Mom who was arrested for shoplifting at Lord & Taylor. Not linking to any of this, as who knows what's accurate, yet to be unraveled, but I mean maybe this tale is the banal story of a disconnected family, personal failures, disappointments, ill-temper, one especially bad actor and nothing political at all. I imagine literature offers up some clues. Thinking 'Crime and Punishment.'

Hope Bostonians get a weekend.

[kathy a.]

i wouldn't consider the daily mail a reliable source.

[Sir Charles]

Nancy,

It is his uncle in Maryland. His father is back in Russia.

One does get the sense of maybe ambitions thwarted and a move toward religious zealotry by the older brother.

Sounds now like they have him surrounded. Hopefully they take him alive so we can learn more about whatever craziness prompted this.

[nancy]

kathy -- The only part of that string of random that was from the Daily Mail is the marriage report. The rest, here and there, but basically all of the outline is in the LATimes coverage, including the child.

I simply hope he will give himself up.

[kathy a.]

hearing varying reports: he's surrounded, in custody, injured, dead. so, who knows? i'm doing some rerun therapy while this gets sorted, because this week sucks so bad.

[nancy]

Alive. Boston is effing awesome.

[nancy]

I had mentioned "Crime and Punishment". Juan Cole thinks it's Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" by way of understanding.