MIT’s website has just (17 minutes ago) reported a shooting on its campus …
At 10:48 PM today gunshots were reported near Building 32 (Stata) which is currently surrounded by responding agencies. The area is cordoned off. Please stay clear of area until further notice. Unknown if injuries have occurred.. Although the situation is considered active and extremely dangerous, an investigation is underway. Updates will be provided at this site when more information becomes available.
Late Update – 11:21 PM: MIT website updates, calls situation an “active shooter incident”.
Late Update – 11:23 PM: Just so we’re clear: there is no evidence that this is related to the bombings. But new updates suggest this is not a few random shots but a serious on-going situation that police are responding to in force. More updates to follow.
Late Update – 11:29 PM: The MIT Student paper is reporting that an MIT police officer was shot and has been taken to Mass General. Here’s The Tech’s twitter feed.
Photo from the #MIT shooting #CambMA (warning: potentially graphic) twitter.com/thetech/status…
— The Tech (@thetech) April 19, 2013
Late Update – 11:39 PM: An update from the Boston Globe on the officer’s condition.
Late Update – 11:46 PM: CNN reporting that FBI has responded to incident at MIT.
Late Update – 11:53 PM: Local TV report on the incident with video. Let me stress again, no evidence that this is related to the bombing situation.
MIT’s website has just (17 minutes ago) reported a shooting on its campus …
At 10:48 PM today gunshots were reported near Building 32 (Stata) which is currently surrounded by responding agencies. The area is cordoned off. Please stay clear of area until further notice. Unknown if injuries have occurred.. Although the situation is considered active and extremely dangerous, an investigation is underway. Updates will be provided at this site when more information becomes available.
There’s been some debate online tonight about an image that’s emerged in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. The photo shows crowds scrambling after one of Monday’s explosions. It also shows, on the left-hand side of the image, a man in a white ball cap who looks a lot like a man that the FBI announced earlier in the day was a suspect in the attack.
Amateur sleuths have debated whether the photo is real or Photoshopped. But now, the New York Times has talked to a guy who says he snapped it with his iPhone right after the explosion. He says it’s the real deal. (More after the jump.) Read More
I have a series of running updates in the post below about an on-going shooting incident at MIT. That’s in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from Boston. I want to stress, however, there is no evidence that this is related to the bombing investigation.
Gunshots were heard on the campus about an hour and 20 minutes ago. A MIT police officer was seriously wounded and has been taken to Mass General. Police have cordoned off the area and there appears to be an active manhunt underway.
Late Update – 12:08 AM: Multiple local news reports say the police officer has died.
1:55 AM: Appears to be confirmation that one suspect is in custody in Watertwon situation. Unconfirmed reports that a second suspect broke through barricade and escaped.
Police tape just lifted at Mt Auburn and Kimball for bomb squad truck twitter.com/GlobeMoskowitz…
— Eric Moskowitz (@GlobeMoskowitz) April 19, 2013
2:11 AM: So much chaos and scattered reports it’s really hard to know what did or is happening. All I think we can be totally certain about is that there was a fatal shooting of a MIT police officer at the MIT campus and then a car-jacking that led police on a chase into Watertwon (the town next door). A lot more seems to have happened. And there is a massive, massive police presence and various SWAT and bomb squads on the scene. But given everything that’s happened this week, I don’t think we can be certain of anything else.
2:15 AM: First full write up in the NYT …
Two young men, armed with guns and explosives in what appeared to be backpacks, engaged in a violent standoff with dozens of police on a street in Watertown, Mass., Thursday night, a resident said.
Full story here. Very hard to know what to make of this report. It’s NYT reporter on the scene and account of an eyewitness.
A marathon suspect is in custody as manhunt continues for another in Watertown, according to official with knowledge of the investigation.
— Jennifer Peter (@GlobeJenPeter) April 19, 2013
I’m going to try to update this as carefully as I can. Going from scattered reports, the situation that began at MIT appears to have expanded toward Watertown. Seems to be a very complicated situation involving police from multiple police municipalities. There’s too much ‘fog of war’ uncertainty to say more with any certainty. Would recommended following the Twitter feed of The Tech (MIT student paper). Wesley Lowery (Globe). Eric Moskowitz (Globe).
Late Update – 1:06 AM: Chaotic surreal situation unfolding north of Boston. Gunfire and explosions in Watertown, the town just west of Cambridge.
At one point police officers screamed that they feared IEDs, no explosions where I am but officers here were horrified. #MITShooting
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) April 19, 2013
Horrifying silence right now. Cops have largely left this area and run further toward alleged explosions/shootout
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) April 19, 2013
As I said a few times earlier this evening, we have no direct evidence that the situation unfolding north of Boston is related to the Boston marathon bombings. However, as the situation has escalated over the last half hour, there’ve been running gun fights and explosions at least in Watertown, the town immediately west of Cambridge.
Given that and the massive police deployment, it seems hard to believe that these are not connected in some way to Monday’s bombing. But again all we seem to know is that this grows out of the shooting incident at MIT that happened late Thursday night.
Late Update – 1:32 AM: As of this moment, little is certain about what’s happening north of Boston with any certainty. So treat this all as tentative. But I’ll try to give you as clear a read as I can.
Things seem to have started with a shooting of an MIT police office. He later died. There was a big police mobilization. And then things seemed to move to the town next door, Watertown. A carjacking may have been what brought the situation from Cambridge to Watertown. Once the commotion moved to Watertown there were numerous reports of gunfire and explosions. At this moment, two suspects have reportedly been apprehended in Watertown, though there are conflicting reports that a second person has been taken into custody. More shortly.
We’ve been down this road before. And with all the chaos outside Boston tonight, I wouldn’t be certain of anything. But the Boston Globe is reporting that police have one marathon bombing suspect in custody and are searching for a second in Watertown. Presumably this makes it official that the bombings and this situation outside Boston tonight are connected. But again, treat everything as tentative. The Globe also reported the non-arrest on Wednesday.
Late Update – 2:37 PM: The Globe is obviously an august paper. But their certainty on this seems well out in front of what others seem to know. I’d remain cautious about this point.
Late Update – 2:42 PM: Here’s the Globe’s piece saying a marathon suspect is in custody. Same caution.
Late Update – 2:47 PM: We’ve spoken to the FBI. They won’t confirm that these are marathon bombing suspects.
A lot has happened in the last half hour. As noted before, the Globe reported that one of the two marathon suspects has been taken into custody in the Watertown shoot out. The FBI was not ready to confirm the connection. But reports are starting to come out of local TV reports that suggest that police at least believe that they are pursuing the marathon bombing suspects. WCVB.com is saying there’s a “strong link” between the shoot out tonight and the bombing.
Stepping back for a moment, what’s clear is that law enforcement in many cases is speaking with the press in the context of a massive and frequently violent manhunt. So there’s a mix of operational assumptions and what anyone can confirm in any meaningful sense. But it does seem increasingly clear that law enforcement is treating this as all part of the same story.