Friday, April 19, 2013

Police converge on neighborhood outside Boston

WATERTOWN, Mass. (AP) — A tense night of police activity that left a university officer dead on campus just days after the Boston Marathon bombings and amid a hunt for two suspects caused officers to converge on a neighborhood outside Boston, where residents heard gunfire and explosions.
The chaos in Watertown, about 10 miles west of Boston, occurred just hours after a Massachusetts Institute of Technology policeofficer was shot and killed on campus. It was unclear if the outbursts of violence were related. No arrests had been made in the officer's fatal shooting, and a manhunt was on for the shooter.
The officer had been responding to report of a disturbance Thursday night when he was shot multiple times, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office and Cambridge police. It said there were no other victims.
In Watertown, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.
State police spokesman David Procopio said, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers."
Boston cab driver Imran Sais said he was standing on a street corner at a police barricade across from a diner when he heard an explosion.
"I heard a loud boom and then a rapid succession of pop, pop, pop," he said. "It sounded like automatic weapons. And then I heard the second explosion."
He said he could smell something burning and advanced to check it out but area residents at their windows yelled at him, "Hey, it's gunfire! Don't go that way!"
MIT said right after the 10:30 p.m. shooting that police were sweeping the campus in Cambridge and urged people to remain indoors. They urged people urged to stay away from the Stata Building, a mixed-use building with faculty offices, classrooms and a common area.
Hours later, MIT, which has about 11,000 students, said the campus was clear but the shooter was still on the loose.

8 comments:

J said...

Now tell me true, Justin...If you were locked in your house in Watertown, wouldn't you like to have a firearm within reach?

Gary Kelly said...

I think J's question would be more relevant (to me, at least) if it were: wouldn't you like your neighbors to have a firearm within reach?" Hehe. And my answer would be most definitely NO. Too many nitwits around here.

Anyway, that's the job of the cops, and it seems to me that the cops in Boston have done a mighty fine one.

Yeah... I shoulda been a lawyer.

Jim said...

This is very 'close to home' Justin for you! Hope all is well for everybody there. We have been glued to TV today. Take care, even though you live farther away.

JustinO'Shea said...

Close for all of us. .In times like this we feel community. . .oneness together.
Thru all of this we have all been very safe. . .thanks, Jim.
~~ justin

JustinO'Shea said...

GARY," I approve your message"

LOL

jimm said...

Ever wonder how many Barney Fife's are out there?

But... what a day....

Gary Kelly said...

Don't be lulled into submission, Coop. Apathy is not what's needed right now. Stay mad.

Remember, the NRA and its supporters are basically saying that if allowing loonies access to guns means I get to keep mine, that's fine with me.

Are you really gonna turn the other cheek to that kind of selfishness?

GreginAdelaide said...

I simply cannot believe all these conspiracy theories going around!

Not that I believe them or not...what I do not believe is the fact that they exist and are so many even before the guy was captured!!! WTF?!

No wonder the world is a mess.

I'm as scared of these guys as I am of the bombers out there!