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Explosions, deaths on Boylston Street

Runner reunited with husband after explosions. Photo by Dani B.

Marathon explosion
Second explosion. Photo by Dan Lampariello.

At least two bombs exploded near the Marathon finish line around 2:50 p.m., killing two people. One was an eight-year-old boy, the Globe reports. WCVB and WBZ report scores of people are being treated at local hospitals.

The windows of Marathon Sports blew in. Every ambulance in the city was ordered in as first reponders rushed in to help people with limbs ripped off. Boston University reports one of the critically injured was a BU student.

As late as 3:30 p.m., police were continuing to find injured runners, as far away as Mass. Ave. and Commonwealth Ave.

Marathon explosion
Wounded being treated. More photos from the scene. Copyright Arturo Gossage.

Police Commissioner Ed Davis said a third explosion occurred around 4:20 p.m. at the JFK Library in Dorchester; he said investigators are not sure if it was related, but that there were no injuries. UPDATE: Police tweeted around 5:30 p.m. that the explosion there was related to a fire, but was not a bomb.

Gov. Patrick: "We've had a horrific attack here in Boston this afternoon."

Davis and Patrick urged people to stay home; WCVB reports the Bruins game tonight has been canceled.

The Marathon medical tent was pressed into service to care for the wounded.

People were urged to stay off cell phones to avoid overloading the system for emergency calls.

Bruce Mendelsohn was watching the race from his office right above Marathon Sports, posted a graphic photo of the blood-stained sidewalk, writes:

There was a primary and a secondary explosion. I ran outside to help. Blood on sidewalks & 10-12 casualties.

Police immediately shut Copley Square and began investigating a series of additional suspicious packages along Boylston Street. Businesses, bars and restaurants were evacuated from the rear; at least two apartment buildings in the Prudential Center were evacuated onto Huntington Avenue.

FBI, State Police joined the investigation.

Around 4 p.m., the BPD bomb squad blew up another suspicious device near the Copley library.

Police sent MBTA buses to Audubon Circle to ferry runners away from the scene. But that was too late for hundreds of runners who found themselves bottlenecked at Mass. and Comm. Ave.

The MBTA stopped Green Line service between Kenmore and Park, Orange Line trains were bypassing Downtown Crossing, Red Line trains were bypassing Park and Downtown Crossing. Logan Airport stopped all incoming flights. Police were stopping all people entering North Station for security checks.

Boston University and Northeastern University told their students to stay on campus.

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Comments

I'm working in the Prudential tower in Boston and there was just a huge explosion that shook the building. Wasn't my building, but came down the street from the marathon finish line... Sounded like an artilliary shell going off. Word is it's not looking good down there. Every cop in the city is screaming down that way right now....

Word of major injuries. This wasn't a manhole fire.

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This is horrible. Hoping the deaths and serious injuries are at a minimum, but it doesn't sound good at this point.

All the local news web sites are completely overloaded.

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We were watching at Coolidge Corner and were told to leave for our safety. I wonder what is going to happen to all the runners still along the route--if they will be pulled or not.

This is terrifying. I hope everyone ends up OK.

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CNN says 2 dead, 20-something injured, citing local sources. Probably safe to say that nobody really knows the actual numbers right now.

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It's not a news organization. It just makes stuff up for the sole purpose of sensationalization. It is a really shameful organization and ought to be ignored.

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Someone tweeted some comment about Tim McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma being on Patriots Day and the significance to militia types. Not the time to be talking about that. But I will say if it turns out to be something like that... fuck it, not the time.

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Oklahoma City bombing (April 19, 1995) wasn't on Patriots Day (April 17th).

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/patriots-day

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Here in Massachusetts, we now treat Patriots Day as a Monday holiday. The rest of the country, in particular, the sort of people who want to blow things up, however, observes April 19.

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right now is complaining about how some runners couldn't finish the race because they were stopped by the police at Mass. Ave after the explosions occurred.

That, and whining that they aren't getting enough information from the police and fire departments.

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Couldn't be. Fox News told me there's no such thing as right-wing terrorism in this country. BLOOD LIBEL!!

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Don't forget that it's Tax Day as well. I won't be a bit surprised when this turns out to be a Tea Partier striking a blow for "FREEEEEEDDDDOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!"

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You're a class act.

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You're usually a damn good commenter, but making political jokes at this time? You just dropped a few notches.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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I didn't realize I needed your permission. And what makes you think I'm joking?

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And "FREEEEEDDDDDOOOOOMMMMM" makes it a joke.

If you have so little regard for your fellow humans at this time that you feel a need to defend your crappy comment, then the high opinion I spoke of concerning you was obviously a mistake in my judgment.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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Due to police activity, the Green Line is terminating service between Kenmore and Park Street Stations.
Green B- and C-Lines are also temporarily suspended.
Green D-Line service will run only between Riverside to Fenway.
Green E-Line service will continue to run between Northeastern and Brigham Circle. For customers desiring service between Brigham Circle and Health Street, please utilize Route 39 bus service.
The Red Line is also bypassing Park Street Station with the Red and Orange Line bypassing Downtown Crossing Station.Â

Customers desiring service in the Back Bay and downtown areas should utilize the Orange Line to Back Bay and Chinatown Stations and the Red Line service to South Station. 4/15/2013 3:34 PM

And from the commuter rail:

All Northside Lines/Routes experiencing 10-15 min delays due to police investigation 4/15/2013 4:26 PM

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Hear that?

That's the sound of our civil liberties being flushed down the toilet, and BPD flushing even more money down the drain for "anti-terrorism" crap.

One of the things I enjoyed about living in Boston was that the security theater wasn't nearly as bad as it is in NYC.

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blown off. Save the immature and stupid comments for your coffee klatch of other morons. I sure as shit didn't see your anonymous ass running towards the blast scene to help.

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Damn straight. Now's not the time to question how much of our tax money will be wasted on Security Theater, or how little additional security will be provided by eliminating our civil rights (not the right to bear arms, of course! Don't worry, that one's safe!). The proper time to discuss those questions is... NEVER! Anyone who thinks otherwise is objectively anti-freedom.

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civil rights with you. Maybe you'd like to meet me in front of the Charlesmark Hotel with a bucket and a brush. Hopefully we can reach a mutual consensus while we're washing up the blood on the streets I've been walking with my parents, nieces, nephews, and my dogs for my entire life.

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Are you down there? Then god bless. But my guess is not. The previous poster has a legitimate point about the security theater reactions that authorities often take to these kinds of tragedies. One of the things I liked about Boston as opposed to New York is that it's less uptight and more open. A lot of that just has to do with the much greater size of New York, but since 9/11 politicians have used the fear of terrorism to close off access to public spaces in cities and generally hamper people's free movement.

You can debate whether any given measure is worthwhile or not or is too much of an infringement on civil liberties or not. But let's not pretend that your position is some sort of apolitical expression of solidarity with the victims. It's not. It's a highly political stance which says that the brutal suffering endured by people today legitimizes any and all measures taken in the name of "public safety" and invalidates any and all criticism or skepticism of such measures.

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our government has used terrorist acts to justify nonsense like our two wars and the creation of the DHS, it is always easy for armchair civil libertarians like yourself to crow about the loss of our civil liberties while innocent people are still bleeding from wounds sustained just a few hours ago.

What else have you done about it? Where was your outrage when the Patriot Act was pushed through in the middle of the night? I'm sure you weren't out committing self immolation in protest of the criminal act that was the Iraq war, were you? My position is not one of solidarity with the victims,as I have never been the victim of a terrorist attack. My position is based on my sympathy for people who thought they were safe on a city street that had never seen a terrorist attack before. Don't try to place your motivations for comment on the same level as mine. I am not speaking from a political standpoint, but a human one. There will be plenty of time for debate, now is the time to take care of the innocent, the dead and the wounded.

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PEOPLE

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The problem being, as the previous poster expressed, the "it's not the time" can often be used to squelch any and all criticism. Proponents of the type of security theater tactics the poster was criticizing often use the tragedy of these events to try and shut down anyone who disagrees with them by portraying their own preferred response as a politically neutral and respectful one and contrary or critical responses as somehow ghoulish, inappropriate, or disrespectful.

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Seriously. You are so out of touch with people and decency, it's alarming.

You got the NRA on one side, and people like this bozo on the other. True 1%'ers assholes to the end, that will never be heard but for their anon, trollish comments on the internet.

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since the attack, and some of us are still freaked out and waiting to hear from people who were in the area, yes, now is not the time to discuss "security theater".

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That any of us give a sh*t what some anonymous poster says. If this is your first reaction to this, then it doesn't seem to me that you have any connection to Boston at all.

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I looked at some of the photos i imagine are linked here via The Guardian and seriously wish I had not.

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How can we help? The photos - particularly the young man in that most horrific one - make me want to help in any way I can. Can we start planning this?

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give blood

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Edit: was the red cross:

From the Red Cross. Thanks to the generosity of volunteer blood donors, there is currently enough blood on the shelves to meet patient needs. We are asking those who want to help to make an appointment to give blood in the coming weeks and months. They can do that by calling 1-800-RED CROSS or visiting redcrossblood.org.

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NY Post reporting they have a suspect at a local hospital.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/authorities_...

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CNN just explained that hospitals are put on alert to look for certain burns that would indicate someone close to or handling bomb materials. If they see it they notify police of a "person of interest". BPD has said they have no suspects at this time and don't know where this info came from.

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Latest commuter rail alert from the MBTA:

Tonight's Bruin's game has been canceled.

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You ought to put a warning with that link.

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You're right. Sorry about that, I was kind of pissed. That photo is horrible. The person's identity is blurred, but the rest is gruesome. This is not the time for snarky jokes.

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my earlier comment. I meant no disrespect whatsoever to those directly affected by this awful event, and do appreciate the gravity of the situation. Call it a knee jerk reaction to reading the MBTA alert.

I do acknowledge to everyone that, in retrospect, I should have held off on making the comment (if not re-considering it entirely). But I didn't mean my comment as just a snarky joke, but as a quick and legitimate commentary on the "we don't know what happened, but it probably was terrorists (even though that was apparently not the case in the subsequent JFK Museum explosion). So let's immediately lock down and shut down everything and cancel everything, even at locations far away from the site of the event, just in case." mentality that is increasingly happening these days.

And yes, whether or not to hold tonight's Bruins game is probably the least important thing for the Boston area to worry about in light of this afternoon's events. Blame it on "press send, insert foot".

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to the best of us.

What has happened is really tough to wrap your brain around.

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I disagree. This is the reality of what happened today.

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You're wrong, Annika, and it's really not that hard to understand why.

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- 2 explosions on Boylston
- 1 detonation by Police (at a hotel nearby)
- unrelated electrical fire at JFK Library
- Cell service in Boston is suspended to nix remote detonation options
(DONT try to call friends/family, text them)
- Logan Airport is now on a 'Ground Stop' no flights in, no flights out
- Authorities are asking people not to congregate in large groups tonight

- no prior threats or warnings about today

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Heard there was a groundstop but my 5:15pm flight took off on time, other flights taking off and coming in. I don't think those reports are accurate. (I'm in the air now)

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The website www.fly.faa.gov was reporting a ground stop around the time that the initial reports came in. It now isn't, so it was probably lifted at some point soon after being issued.

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Yeah, they had a ground stop for about a half hour to reconfigure the runways so that planes didn't have to fly over Copley.

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Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday is my favorite day to be a Bostonian. I love my city and am very sad.

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Normal Green Line, Orange Line, and Red Line service is resuming with significant residual delays. Park Street and Downtown Crossing have reopened. 4/15/2013 5:46 PM

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In the original post, I put up a cropped version of Dan Lampariello's photo. Here's another cropped version. Note the guy up on the roof of the building on the left:

Man on roof

Original photo.

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Dan, if he hasn't already, might want to find out who to send that to.
Especially if it has a time stamp on the file.

I'm not crying conspiracy theorist - that guy could just be a resident w a roofdeck.
But 'what if', right?

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I have been seeing this on twitter for quite some time now.

My initial reaction is to dismiss it. Anyone that has ever taken in the Marathon on that stretch of Boylston knows that the roofs are lined with spectators and partiers. I wasn't down there today, but I suspect it was the same.

But who knows?

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That looks like a roof garden. Probably just someone watching the marathon.

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don't need to be next to a area if you have a cell phone...

Sounds like the "suspect" people are talking about is more than likely being brown at the wrong place and time. We have no idea how long these devices were there. Authorities will most likely be coming over trash pickup over the weekend to find out.

The area was busy than normal this morning, but far from busy. Not much you can really do for these types of things, but scoff at those who would try to strike fear into our minds and tempt us change our ways. And bring them to justice.

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My guess is that's just someone with roof access, legit or not, watching the race. It's a little hard to tell but it doesn't seem like that place would have a great view of the explosion site, but it would probably have a good view of the runners coming down Boylston.

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Which is quite visible from the aerial shots from the news helicopters.

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WBZ just reported a "Saudi national" being questioned by the authorities. He was apparently running from the explosion site and was tackled by someone. My guess is that this is probably just some random Arab guy who was in the area and, no surprise, decided that when a bomb went off he should, like everyone else, run the hell away from it.

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A gripping first-person report from veteran Globe photographer John Tlumacki, who describes this moving photo that he took at the scene.

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In the midst of chaos and madness, I pray for the families of the victims. Funeral memorials for the casualties.

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