Boston Marathon hit by explosions

[Warren Dew]

What's the odds of the cop wounded in the shoot-out being hit by friendly fire?
The audio was just continuous shots being fired, must have been thousands. It's amazing no members of the public were hit.

I can't work out how the hostage survived. Maybe he was dropped off before the shooting started.

The hostage was dropped off when the suspects stopped to get gas.

[Wumbologist]

Boston EMS has "taken over" Watertown. The company I work for usually covers that area, and due to the shutdown of the boston area we're down a lot of trucks. If Boston EMS hadn't decided to swoop in there I'd be there now as part of one of the few available crews.

[Twoflower]

I like that you are safe but feel bad that you can't go help cover Watertown.

[Wumbologist]

I like that you are safe but feel bad that you can't go help cover Watertown.

Eh. They have vests, I don't.

[Twoflower]

You have fancy vests.

[Bella Fortuna]

You have fancy vests.

And fancy shoes!

[mistermack]

What's taking them so long?

How hard can it be to find a massive man in such a small area?

[cronus]

They had him then they let him get away. If they had night time drones keeping a eye on situations like this it wouldn't happen.

[Bella Fortuna]

A photo essay was done earlier of the dead suspect: http://johanneshirn.photoshelter.com/ga ... W7v6xWA7o/

Linked from here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/ ... riend.html

[Warren Dew]

Live feed:

http://www.myfoxboston.com/category/262 ... n-marathon

[Twoflower]

If anyone would like to help out my cousin's boss with medical expenses they can donate here https://www.wepay.com/donations/richard-family-fund Not only was their son killed, but both his wife and daughter were seriously injured.

[mistermack]

The hostage was dropped off when the suspects stopped to get gas.

That just illustrates what's wrong with guns.

They didn't feel like harming someone, who was face to face with them, but they were happy to maim and kill lots of people from a distance.
That's what guns and bombs do.
They make killing easy, and impersonal. And that's why guns need to be banned, just like bombs.

[Wumbologist]

The hostage was dropped off when the suspects stopped to get gas.

That just illustrates what's wrong with guns.

They didn't feel like harming someone, who was face to face with them, but they were happy to maim and kill lots of people from a distance.
That's what guns and bombs do.
They make killing easy, and impersonal. And that's why guns need to be banned, just like bombs.

Because bombs being illegal made a difference here...

[mistermack]

Because bombs being illegal made a difference here...

Bombs being illegal makes a difference every day.
Thousands of lives are saved every month, because bombs are illegal.

[Warren Dew]

The hostage was dropped off when the suspects stopped to get gas.

That just illustrates what's wrong with guns.

They didn't feel like harming someone, who was face to face with them, but they were happy to maim and kill lots of people from a distance.
That's what guns and bombs do.
They make killing easy, and impersonal. And that's why guns need to be banned, just like bombs.

You know the victim that got both legs blown off? One of the terrorists was face to face with that victim, and it made no difference - he put the backpack containing the bomb at the victim's feet anyway.

The reason the carjacking victim didn't get killed was because the terrorists were then focusing on getting away, rather than making a big news splash as had been their objective on monday.