Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced they will seek the death penalty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, instantly raising the stakes in what could be one of the most wrenching trials the city has ever seen.
Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to press for Tsarnaev's execution was widely expected. The twin blasts killed three people and wounded more than 260 others, and 17 of the 30 federal charges against him — including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill — carry the possibility of the death penalty.
"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," Holder said in a statement.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not been set.
According to local, state and federal investigators, 19 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26 year old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted two bombs fashioned from pressure cookers and loaded with ball bearings and set them a few hundred feet apart at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day last year- April 15th. Three people were killed in the blasts and more than 200 were injured by flying shrapnel and the two brothers were seen on surveillance cameras from nearby businesses arriving at the finish line with backpacks and leaving without them shortly before the blasts. During the manhunt after the bombings, the two brothers shot and killed an MIT Campus police officer in an ambush, carjacked a motorist and led police on a wild chase that culminated in a firefight in Watertown, MA. During the shootout, an MBTA Transit police officer was wounded and Tamerlan was run over by his own brother in a bid to escape. The younger Tsarnaev brother initially appeared to have evaded the dragnet, but a Watertown homeowner spotted blood on a tarp covering a boat in his backyard and immediately called police. After a shootout and tense standoff, officers from the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team and Massachusetts State Police Special Tactical Operations (STOP) surrounded the boat and took a wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev into custody.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was also thought to be a suspect in a triple homicide in Waltham, MA in September 2011. A friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev- Ibragim Todashev- implicated himself and the older Tsarnaev brother in a statement to the FBI and Massachusetts State Police at his Florida condo. Law enforcement sources then claimed that a previously cooperative Tosahev eventually became belligerent and attempted to stab one of the agents before being fatally shot.
The two brothers originally hailed from Chechnya- a volatile, Islamic majority region in the south of Russia that has been fighting against Russian troops in a bid to break away from the Kremlin. Islamic Chechen fighters have been fighting in Afghanistan as well as the recent conflicts in Libya and Syria while Chechen terrorists are said to be behind a series of suicide attacks on buses and train stations in the Russian city of Volgograd last month that killed more than 30 people.
The elusive Bulger was captured with girlfriend Catherine Greig at a luxury apartment complex in Santa Monica, CA in June 2011 after more than 16 years on the run. Bulger was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for most of those 16 years, was also a source of embarrassment for the agency when it was made public that the Boston office of the FBI allowed Bulger's Winter Hill Gang to continue their criminal activities unimpeded in exchange for information on rival gangs, including the Providence, RI based Patriarcha crime family.
Bulger and his associates in the Winter Hill Gang were hired by former World Jai Alai president and Boston businessman John B Callahan to kill Oklahoma businessman Roger Wheeler- Callahan's successor at World Jai Alai. Callahan was reportedly worried that Wheeler would discover his embezzlement from the organization and report it to the FBI. One of Bulger's FBI handlers had retired and became head of World Jai Alai security, but would instead report on Wheeler's whereabouts to Bulger and the Winter Hill gang. Wheeler was shot and killed in his car outside a Tulsa, OK country club in May 1981.
Another FBI handler warned Bulger that Callahan was unlikely to hold up under questioning and one of the triggermen in Wheeler's killing was offering information to the Feds to try and get out of a separate murder charge. In July 1982, Callahan's bullet-riddled body was found stuffed in the trunk of his Cadillac at Miami International Airport. Two months earlier, Bulger and associate Stephen 'the Rifleman' Flemmi shot and killed suspected FBI informant Brian Halloran and a bystander named Michael Donahue in South Boston.
Bulger and Flemmi also extorted Southie liquor store owner Stephen Rakes into selling his business to them and then intimidated him into changing his story when the matter initially went to court in the early 1990s. The 2013 trial of Whitey Bulger took a dramatic turn when Rakes turned up dead in Lincoln, MA last month. An autopsy showed that Rakes was poisoned and the Middlesex County DA charged a 69 year old man who reportedly owed Rakes a large sum of money with the murder.
Bulger and his girlfriend went into hiding in 1995 after FBI Agent John Connoly Jr tipped him off that a racketeering indictment was coming down. The FBI made hardly any headway until they ran a series of public service announcements focusing on Greig on daytime women's talk shows- within days, a tipster in southern California recognized Greig and Bulger as their neighbors, leading to their arrests.
Police have made an arrest in the death of 59 year old Stephen Rakes, who's body was found in Lincoln, MA last month. Initially ruled a suicide, an autopsy revealed that Rakes had died after drinking an iced coffee laced with cyanide.
William Camuti, 69, of Sudbury, is charged with attempted murder, misleading police, and unlawful disposition of human remains in Rakes' death. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday and was ordered held without bail until a hearing Tuesday.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, Ryan said Camuti lured Rakes to a McDonalds restaurant in Waltham. Ryan said Camuti put two teaspoons of potassium cyanide in Rakes' iced coffee and then drove around with Rakes in the car until he died. Ryan said he then dumped the body and removed all his identification.
Ryan said investigators believe Camuti acted alone and Rakes' death was not connected to the Bulger trial.
Camuti was convicted in 1993 of 11 counts of mail fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud investors. Court records show Camuti was soliciting money from a group of Waltham businessmen, promising to invest their money in mortgages and never following through.
Investigators say that Camuti owed Rakes a substantial amount of money and that was a likely motive in the poisoning. The Middlesex County DA's office believes the Bulger connection was a coincidence, since Rakes wasn't even on the prosecution's witness list for the current trial.
Rakes said that Bulger then threatened him into changing his testimony and perjuring himself when an earlier criminal complaint was brought against Bulger in 1991, claiming the sale was voluntary. When Whitey went on the run, Rakes was charged with perjury.
Bulger and his girlfriend Catherine Greig were arrested by the FBI in Santa Monica, CA in June 2011 after more than 15 years on the run. Agents were following up on a tip from one of their neighbors [a former Miss Iceland pageant winner, no less!- NANESB!]. The agency broke the case open shortly after they decided to air a series of announcements focusing in Greig on daytime TV talk shows geared more towards women.
Before the Patriot's Day bombing of the Boston Marathon finish line and capture of Chechen islamist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston's 'Trial of the Century" was supposed to be the prosecution of former Winter Hill capo and FBI informant Whitey Bulger in South Boston's US District Court.
One of the witnesses who was scheduled to testify against Bulger was found dead on Wednesday along the Mill Street area of Lincoln, MA. Authorities still have to determine a cause of death.
Given the advanced age of some of the participants in the Bulger trial, I'd say this death looks 95% fishy, as opposed to 99.9% fishy. However, Federal Prosecutors claim they had not plans to call Stephen Rakes to the witness stand.
Far from being a reluctant eyewitness, Rakes appeared eager to testify how he was victimized by Bulger and his accomplices.
Rakes, 59, was one of the most determined of Bulger’s alleged victims, still furious at the notorious South Boston gangster and his allies, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi and Kevin Weeks, for allegedly extorting his South Boston liquor store from him at gunpoint in 1984 — while Rakes’s daughters were in the same room.
In a 2001 interview with the Boston Globe, Rakes said that Bulger and his right-hand man Steve 'The Rifleman' Flemmi accosted him at his South Boston liquor store one night in 1984. Rakes claimed the two introduced themselves and said they had been hired to kill him, but wouldn't go through with their contract if he sold the store to them. As the conversation moved into the kitchen, Rakes claimed Flemmi pulled a gun and put it on the table before putting Rakes' infant daughter on his lap while Bulger pulled a switchblade, asking what it would be like for Rakes' daughter to grow up without a father.
Threatened with death if he reported the shakedown, Rakes insisted the sale was voluntary when he testified before federal grand juries targeting Bulger in 1991 and 1995. A jury convicted Rakes of perjury and obstruction of justice in June 1998, but he escaped prison after agreeing to cooperate with authorities.
After losing the store, Rakes said he went to Disney World with his family, only to be ordered back by Bulger, who forced him to stand on a South Boston corner for two days to quell rumors that Bulger had killed him.
Rakes's wife sought help from her uncle, Boston Police Detective Joseph Lundbohm, who reported the takeover of the store to FBI Agent John J. Connolly Jr., unaware that Bulger and Flemmi were informants and Connolly was their handler.
In a 1998 Globe interview, Connolly confirmed that Lundbohm had told him that Bulger and Flemmi had seized the store, but Connolly said he didn't take action because the Rakeses "did not want to get wired up and they did not want to be witnesses. How do you make a case like that?"
A day after Connolly was warned about the shakedown, Rakes said Bulger paid him a visit and warned him that he'd better tell Lundbohm to "back off."
"I was more scared then than I ever was," said Rakes. "I figured he had a pipeline right to the FBI."
After Rakes lied to the grand jury in 1991, Bulger confronted him on his way home from the courthouse and revealed that he knew everything that had happened in the secret, closed-door proceeding, Rakes said.
"He had a piece of paper in front of him and he had all of the questions that the prosecutor had asked me," said Rakes. "I said, `Thank God I went in there and lied like crazy or I'd be dead by now.' "
Bulger fled Boston after a January 1995 racketeering indictment. By that time, Rakes was a track inspector with the MBTA. A few months after Whitey became a wanted fugitive, Rakes said he panicked and fled when he saw Bulger protégé Kevin Weeks standing at a platform at the Red Line's Broadway station, accidently brushing up against the third rail as he fled. Rakes was hospitalized for several days afterwards.
Associates of Bulger claim that Rakes had approached them through an intermediary about selling the store, but threatened him after they said he kept raising the asking price for the liquor store.
Here you go Rolling Stones; if you required a cover and wanted marathon related, one would assume that you would have promoted a nation of continued healing, provided American heroes and encouraged moving forward. This is just one of several available shots that would have made sense if you were looking for togetherness.
Instead, your irresponsible behavior did more to tear open wounds and insult victims, survivors and families that have been slowly healing and accepting the horrendous acts of terrorism. There is a very long road that awaits the involved victims and your magazine ripped at the hearts in an instance and cut at the deepest levels and for what, “To increase sales of a magazine that usually is worthy of music celebrities.” Well, Rolling Stones, you just reclaimed your 15 minutes of fame, we only hope, it lasts only fifteen minutes.
What you did yesterday with your incredibly poor decision, was weaken extreme good that has been built from unimaginable evil.
Well, we are here to remind you that we are 2 BROTHERS 1 NATION….Standing Boston Strong…….and no room for magazines intended on highlighting evil, hate and death.
Today, we take a step over that magazine and hold our heads up high and ask our supporters to do the same and to also ignore the sensationalism perpetrated by RS.
MBTA Police officer Richard Donahue, who was shot and wounded in the chaotic gunfight in Watertown, MA after the Tsarnaev Brothers ambushed and killed MIT policeman Sean Collier and carjacked a motorist in Cambridge, MA, issued a statement on Wednesday.
The City of Boston and the surrounding communities have faced many challenges since the bombings at the marathon finish line. The new cover of Rolling Stone has garnered much attention due to its sensationalized depiction of one of the alleged bombers. My family and I were personally affected by these individuals’ actions. I cannot and do not condone the cover of the magazine, which is thoughtless at best.
However, I appreciate our country’s protection of free speech afforded to us by the Constitution. I am confident that our Boston Strong community will remain intrepid and unshaken by the cover of this magazine.
In response to the Rolling Stone cover, Boston Magazine published an article titled The Real Face of Terror: Behind the Scenes of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Manhunt that included previously unreleased photos of a bloodied Tsarnaev on the boat with his arms in the air and a red dot from a laser sight on his head before he was taken into custody. The images were obtained by the magazine courtesy of a Massachusetts State Police sergeant who was on scene in Watertown that night.
One has to wonder if the Boston Marathon bomber were a middle aged crazed right wing Tea Partier like so many on the left insisted immediately after the terrorist attack, would Rolling Stone have used a similarly flattering image like they did for the younger Tsarnaev brother?
Or better yet, let's assume Mitt Romney won the 2012 presidential election. Who would Rolling Stone be more likely to use a flattering picture of on the cover to accompany an article- The moderate Republican former governor of Massachusetts or an unrepentant Islamic terrorist who admitted to killing four and wounding hundreds in a terrorist attack in a major American city?
"Wow, here's a really good looking cool kid who loves to smoke weed (a lot -- isn't that cool and funny!) and seems super cool and all his friends just think he's the "bomb." He has such great hair!!!!
Oh -- sorry - and then the cute guy does something really really bad, and it's like totally weird because he was such a cool dude --and he was smart and stuff, and a great fighter and girls liked him! He seems really cute to me, anyway!!! :)
and when someone cool does something REALLY BAD WE THINK then we are really sad.
:(
Like, why didn't he like us more??? : ^I
It sucks.... why couldn't he have been a dorky, ugly white right wing christian who didn't do drugs-- instead?
I mean -- That would have been more fun to write about! LOL."
In response to the public outcry [that they knowingly courted- NANESB!], Rolling Stone's editors released a statement on Thursday.
Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens
Pardon my Français, but bull-fucking-shit. First of all, if your 'hearts went out to the victims', I suspect you would use a much more drab image of Dzhokhar on the cover- maybe even his prison jumpsuit as he awaits trial instead of some sepia toned image that looks like its from the cover of his upcoming solo album. Number two, your referring to the murder and maiming of bystanders in a terrorist attack as a 'tragedy' underscores the fact that you don't take any of this seriously. A runaway bus didn't plow into the crowd- that would've been tragic. This was a premeditated act of murder and according to court documents, Dzhokhar and Tamerlane Tsarnaev set a backpack laden with explosives down next to innocent people cheering on the marathon runners and took off shortly before an 8 year old from Dorchester was ripped to shreds.
NEW POLL UP- With about 10 days to go until Major League Baseball's All Star Break, look to the left for a new poll to vote in. Feel free to weigh in on what you think is the most difficult division in MLB this season. For some reason, Blogspot will only let me put in four possible answers (instead of being able to list all six divisions), so looks like you can only choose from those four.
Jim Rogash, Getty Images
BOSTON RED SOX- The Red Sox second interleague series of the season got off to a pretty good start on Tuesday night when John Lackey allowed just one unearned run during eight innings of work against the Padres during Boston's 4-1 win. Lackey allowed six hits- including a solo homer to San Diego 1B Jesus Guzman in the 7th- and struck out six while recent Paw Sox callup Brandon Snyder continues to impress, breaking a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth by hitting a 1-out bases-clearing double off the Monster towards deep center to give Boston a 3-0 lead [although he got greedy attempting to and was thrown out at third attempting to stretch it out into a triple- NANESB!].
Wednesday night's matchup was more of a pitcher's duel with Lester getting the start against San Diego's Edinson Volquez. Playing in an American League park, the Padres slotted OF Kyle Blanks into the DH spot and it paid immediate dividends as he drove in a two out RBI in the first inning to give San Diego the early lead.
Although the Red Sox were able to get runners on board in the bottom of the first thanks to a ground-rule double by Victorino, an infield hit by Dustin Pedroia followed by a stolen base, a familiar face put the kibosh on any further attempts at bringing a run home when Padres SS Pedro Ciriaco caught a line drive off the bat of Big Papi and stepped on second to get Pedroia out and end the threat.
The Red Sox were able to tie the game up at 1-1 after Mike Carp led off the bottom of the 4th with a single and came home on a Saltalamacchia RBI double. The Padres looked like they were in trouble in the bottom of the 7th after Nick Vincent led off the inning by giving up a double to Dustin Pedroia and then intentionally walking David Ortiz, but Luke Gregerson came out of the bullpen and struck out Daniel Nava, got Carp to fly out to shallow center before striking out Saltalamacchia to end the Red Sox threat.
After Junichi Tazawa struck out the side in the top of the 8th, Koji Uehara came on in the top of the 9th and got the first two batters out before walking Guzman. However, he got Yasmani Grandal to fly out and end the inning for the Padres.
For the bottom of the 9th, John Farrell decided to lead off the inning with Johnny Gomes coming on as a pinch-hitter. That paid off handsomely, as this happened after working the count to 2-2:
Red Sox win it in walkoff fashion for the 8th time this season, with Gomes' pinch hit solo homer giving Boston the 2-1 win in the bottom of the 9th. The Red Sox will wrap up their homestand with a 4th of July day game at Fenway- Eric Stults [6-6; 3.51 ERA] gets the start against Allen Webster [0-2; 9.50 ERA]. The game gets underway at 1:35 PM ET, 10:35 AM Pacific and will be televised on NESN.
After the Independence Day game at Fenway, the Red Sox will take off for a 10-game west coast road trip, starting with the Angels in Orange County on Friday night before moving on to Seattle for a four-game series and then a 3-game set against Oakland before the All-Star break.
AP Photo/Al Behrman
OTHER MLB NEWS- Cincinnati's Homer Bailey threw a complete game no-hitter against the defending World series champion San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night. This is the first no-hitter of the 2013 and second of Bailey's career- the first of which was the second most recent no-hitter in MLB, dating back to September 28, 2012 when Bailey no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park towards the end of the regular season.
Bailey's no hitter was in jeopardy in the top of the 7th- after a leadoff walk to San Francisco outfielder Gregor Blanco, former Red Sox and Blue Jays SS Marco Scutaro grounded out to third as Blanco advanced to second. Giants catcher Buster Posey then hit a broken-bat ground ball towards first with Reds 1B Joey Votto shaded about midway towards second. Bailey broke late from the mound to first and it looked like Posey would reach first and break up the no-no until Votto threw to third base where Blanco was caught in the rundown.
The Reds got runs on a Votto sac-fly in the first off of Giants starter Tim Linceum and a 2-run Brandon Phillips homer in the bottom of the 6th for the 3-0 win. While there have been a couple of flirtations with no-hitters, the closest anyone came prior to Tuesday night was Texas' Yu Darvish, who was one out away from a perfect game against Houston when Astros SS Marwin Gonzalez singled the first week of the regular season.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Dallas Morning News is reporting that former Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians outfielder Manny Ramirez has signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. The controversial slugger tested positive twice for banned performance enhancing drugs- the most recent of which took place in 2011 before the outfielder abruptly announced his retirement rather than face a 2nd suspension.
In 2012, the Oakland A's signed Manny to a minor league contract where he batted .302 with 19 hits and 14 RBI in 17 games with the AAA Sacramento River Cats. The deal called for a $500,000 bonus if he was called up from the minors, but within two weeks of his reinstatement, he requested (and was granted) an outright release from Oakland.
Since then, he has been playing ball for Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Winter League and the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese professional league over in Taiwan. Since the 2008 trade that sent him from Boston to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny has played for the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.
Manny is expected to start as a DH for the AAA Rangers affiliate, the Round Rock Express. Manny will report to Round Rock on July 4th and participate in team exercises before being activated.
The Rangers have a history of giving second chances to players long suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. Texas was the last MLB team Sammy Sosa played for in 2007- two years after his English-speaking abilities seemed to abandon him while being questioned about steroid use in Major League Baseball. Sosa reportedly tested positive for performance enhancing drugs as far back as 2003- the findings were uncovered as part of a federal investigation of the infamous BALCo labs.
Police say 33-year-old Thaddeus Singleton III of Bristol was killed when the car he was driving slammed into the Farmington Country Club early Sunday morning. The Hartford Courant reported that investigators wanted to speak to Singleton because of his relationship with Hernandez.
Singleton is married to Hernandez's cousin, and police say the car involved was registered to Hernandez's uncle. Their home has been searched several times by Massachusetts police investigating a 2012 double homicide linked to the former NFL star.
Police seized a vehicle from that home on Friday.
The cause of the accident has not been determined. Police said a woman in the car was in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Her name has not been released.
Meanwhile, investigators continue to gather and search for more evidence as Hernandez remains in a jail cell charged in the murder of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, of Dorchester
Police documents show that police located a white hooded-sweatshirt and a baseball cap allegedly worn by Hernandez the night Lloyd was murdered at an apartment Hernandez rented in Franklin.
Investigators said they also found a valet parking ticket from the W Hotel, which is within walking distance of the Rumor nightclub.
Investigators initially believe that Hernandez had Odin Lloyd killed after the semipro player was seen talking to people at the Rumor nightclub that Hernandez had a falling out with. However, police are also looking at Hernandez's involvement in a 2012 double homicide in South Boston and believe that the former Patriots TE orchestrated Odin's death because they thought he knew too much about the South Boston killings.
BOSTON CELTICS- With the Doc Rivers era over for barely a week, the Celtics made an early and highly unexpected move to fill their coaching vacancy on Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Celtics GM Danny Ainge announced the hiring of Butler University head coach Brad Stephens to replace Doc Rivers as head coach of the Boston Celtics. Stephens led the Butler Bulldogs to back to back NCAA Men's title games in 2010 and 2011 (where they lost to Duke and UConn, respectively). Most recently, Butler lost to Marquette in the third round of the 2013 NCAA tournament.
The Celtics and the 36 year old head coach agreed to terms on a 6 year, $22 million contract. This would not be the first time the C's had hired a coach out of the NCAA- in 1997, the Celtics hired Rick Pitino away from the Kentucky Wildcats. However, this would be the first time since 1948 that the Celtics would hire a collegiate coach with no professional experience when the NBA's predecessor- the Basketball Association of America- was only two years old.
Meanwhile, the Butler basketball program made official their move from the Atlantic-10 to the Big East effective July 1st.
PATRIOTS- Former Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez was arrested on charges of murder this week after the body of an acquaintance was found less than a mile away from his N. Attleboro, MA home. I say 'former' because the Patriots cut him within two hours of his arrest on Wednesday afternoon.
The prosecution alleges that Hernandez orchestrated the murder of 27 year old Odin Lloyd during the overnight hours of June 16th and June 17th. Lloyd, a semipro linebacker with the Boston Bandits, had been dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancée at the time of the murder.
According to investigators, after seeing Odin talking to a some people at a Boston nightclub who earlier had a falling out with Hernandez, the tight end summoned two friends from Connecticut. After texting Lloyd, Hernandez and two accomplices arrive at Lloyd's house around 2:30 AM. Lloyd's sister sees him get into a silver Altima and receives a final text message from him at 3:23 AM- around the same time a silver Altima that Hernandez had rented is seen on a security camera driving into a secluded area of an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home. Shortly before 3:30 workers at a nearby business report hearing the sound of gunshots.
The following day, Hernandez returns the Altima to the rental agency and asks for another vehicle, after the driver's side mirror is damaged. Hernandez claims he doesn't know how it happened while getting another vehicle. After Hernandez leaves, the attendant finds a spent shell casing from a .45 pistol. Later that day, Odin's body is discovered at an area where sand and gravel are stockpiled at the North Attleboro industrial park.
A subsequent search of the Hernandez's apartment turned up a clip from a .45 semiautomatic. Investigators also learned that Hernandez's cell phone and home security system were destroyed (likely deliberately) shortly after Lloyd's slaying and the tight end hired housekeepers to scrub his mansion after the slaying.
In addition to Hernandez, police have arrested three suspected accomplices in Florida and Hernandez's hometown of Bristol, CT this week. All of them are facing extradition to Massachusetts to stand trial for their role in Lloyd's murder and Hernandez was denied bail after being deemed a flight risk.
RED SOX- After completing a sweep of the brief two game series against Colorado- including Tuesday night's outing where the Red Sox notched 20 hits in their 11-4 win- the Red Sox had a chance to add to their lead in the AL East and cool off the torrid Blue Jays, who had won 17 of their last 22 games in June to put them within striking distance of the AL East lead [although still dead last- NANESB!]. The last time Toronto starter Chen-Ming Wang faced the Red Sox was four years ago while wearing pinstripes, and he lost to knuckleballer Time Wakefield in the Bronx.
Although Wang would get through the first inning without allowing a hit, the wheels came off in the second inning when he allowed 7 runs in just ⅔ of an inning. Dustin Pedroia's two out, two run homer knocked Wang out of the game. With plenty of run support early on, Lester seemed to be cruising along- although he gave up a 2-RBI double to Maicer Izturis in the top of the 5th and allowed two singles to lead off the top of the 8th where the runners eventually came home when Jinuchi Tazawa gave up a sac-fly to Jose Reyes and an RBI groundout to Jose Bautista to make it 7-4. That would be the final, though, as Koji Uehara came in for his second straight save- and like Wednesday's afternoon game against the Rockies, he got all three batters he faced out in order.
Lester went seven complete innings and improves to 8-4 after struggling mightily while Toronto falls back to .500 with the loss. The 7-run second inning was enough for Boston and Dustin Pedroia led the scoring by going 1-2 with a homer and 2 RBI. Lester threw a total of 94 pitches and the seven innings was his longest outing of the season so far. Game two of the four game weekend series will get underway from Fenway Friday night at 7:10 ET. The pitching matchup will feature Allen Webster [0-2; 11.25 ERA] against Toronto's Josh Johnson [1-2; 4.60 ERA] and the game will be televised by NESN.
OTHER SOX NEWS- The Red Sox selected New Castle, IN high school pitcher Trey Ball as their first overall draft pick in the 2013 MLB draft. The 6'6" left from the Hoosier State is the highest selection for Boston since the 1993 pick of outfielder Trot Nixon.
BOSTON CELTICS- Shortly after the NBA approved of an unorthodox trade that sent head coach Doc Rivers to the LA Clippers for a first round pick in the 2015 NBA draft, Celtics GM Danny Ainge orchestrated a blockbuster deal that sent two-thirds of the Big Three to Brooklyn in exchange for Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Reggie Evans, Kris Joseph, a signed-and-traded Keith Bogans and first round picks in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 draft- plus the right to trade up if the Nets' pick is higher than Boston's in 2017. The Nets will be getting Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce- the longest tenured member of the Celtics. Garnett apparently had to waive his no-trade clause for the deal to go through and have the Nets agree to take on his entire salary through the 2014-2015 season.
The trade was foreshadowed by weeks of on-again/off-again talks between the Celtics and Clippers over Doc's exit from Beantown and landing on the west coast. The Celtics are still on the hook for the final three years and $21 million of his contract. In addition to head coach, Doc was also named vice-president of basketball operations- a position that would give him a greater say in the front office.
State police on Monday blocked the access road to the aqueduct off Rte. 30 just before noon as members of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority along with detectives from the Massachusetts State Police and Framingham Police Department, explored the area.
MWRA spokeswoman Ria Convery said the cut locks were discovered Monday morning and that the hatches could not have been unlocked for long because the agency regularly checks the aqueduct. Convery would not speak to the frequency of the checks because of terrorism concerns.
The MWRA released a statement at 2:20 p.m. indicating that the water supply is safe.
"There is no evidence that there was any attempt to disrupt or contaminate the water supply," the statement said. "MWRA’s real-time water quality monitoring shows no change in water quality nor any sign of contamination."
A Framingham officer knocked on the door of a nearby home that has a view of the aqueduct trail, which is located in the woods off Rte. 30.
State police said they will be investigating the incident but do not have any additional details.
The Hultman Aqueduct is one of two main tunnels that carry drinking water from the John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant in Marlborough to Greater Boston.
The tampering of locks at the Hultman aqueduct comes about a month after a trespassing incident at the Quabbin Reservoir. A state trooper on patrol near Belchertown noticed two women and five women walking towards vehicles parked on the grass near the middle entrance.
The state trooper determined that the five were trespassing and after being taken into custody, it was learned that the trespassers were graduates from nearby colleges who came here from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Singapore.
The individuals claimed to be chemical engineers, recent college graduates, and stated that they were at the reservoir for education and career interest, according to State Police.
The individuals live in Amherst, Cambridge, Sunderland, Northampton and New York City.
They have no warrants against them and no crime was committed Tuesday, other than the trespassing. An investigation is being conducted due to the late hour of the incident, the individuals' explanation for why they were there, and the trespassing.
Since the September 11th terrorist attacks, vehicle access has been restricted on the roads leading into the Quabbin.
The Quabbin Reservoir was completed in the late 1930s and displaced four towns in Hampshire and Worcester County in the process. It is Massachusetts's largest inland body of water and that part of Massachusetts has even appeared in horror writings from the likes of HP Lovecraft or Stephen King.
The shooting happened inside an Orlando apartment complex as an FBI agent and Massachusetts State Police detectives were questioning Ibragim Todashev about his friendship with Tsarnaev.
Law enforcement sources said the two Chechen immigrants once trained together at a Boston area gym. But evidence also suggests a criminal connection, involvement in a grisly triple murder that occurred in September 2011, in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Three men, including one who trained at the same gym, were found with their throats cut, their bodies had been covered with marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash. No one has been charged.
But sources say during questioning Tuesday night, Todashev implicated himself and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the killings. As investigators pushed at him towards a confession, he snapped, reported Orr.
Law enforcement officials say the 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter made a move that threatened the investigators. The FBI agent, who suffered cuts in the altercation, shot and killed Todashev.
The FBI became interested in him after phone records suggested a connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Over several weeks agents kept tabs on Todashev and questioned him a handful of times. The FBI found nothing connecting Todashev to the Boston attacks.
Todashev, who lived in the u.s. for the past several years, was arrested two weeks ago on an aggravated battery charge. But now investigators want to find out if he had any connections at all to anything worse, including radical extremists overseas.
Earlier, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Todashev was a mixed-martial-arts fighter. Fighting was at least one interest that Todashev shared with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was once a boxer.
Miller also reported that Todashev had been to Chechnya before and was scheduled to return to Chechnya this week but canceled his flight.
While Todashev wasn't considered a suspect in the April 15th bombing of the Boston Marathon finish line, authorities believed that both Todashev and the older Tsarnaev brother were involved in the September 2011 triple slaying of Raphael Teken, Brendan Mess and Erik Weissman at their Waltham, MA apartment.
Todashev was granted permanent legal status to the USA in February, despite a 2010 arrest for assault after a traffic accident. Last month, Todashev was arrested at gunpoint in Florida after allegedly beating up a man in a parking lot.
Two Massachusetts officials, both Democrats, announced their resignation from office earlier this month following accusations of wrongdoing and official misconduct in separate incidents.
Lt Gov Tim Murray announced his resignation from office on May 6th. Murray is reportedly taking a higher paying job with the Worcester Chamber of Commerce in early June, after his last day in office. The move will leave the Commonwealth without a Lieutenant Governor until 2014- although this would not be the first time in recent history that the Bay State would be without a Lt Gov for an extended period of time.
In January, the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance made public a letter that Murray and his campaign likely broke the law by accepting donations from former Chelsea Housing Authority Director Michael McLaughlin, who pleaded guilty to falsely reporting his salary between 2008 and 2011 as part of a plea agreement earlier this year.
Murray denies that the McLaughlin case or his solo car wreck factored into his decision to resign. According to some reports, Murray's new position with the Worcester Chamber of Commerce will pay an annual salary of more than $200,000- versus around $125,000 as Lt Governor.
Secretary of State William Galvin would serve as the next in line to Gov Deval Patrick- including acting governor when Patrick is out of the state.
Meanwhile, state representative John Fresolo- a Worcester Democrat who has been the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation- announced his resignation last week. Although neither Fresolo or any member of the state Ethics Committee would disclose the details behind the investigation and Fresolo's sudden resignation due to House rules, representatives on Beacon Hill say that the resignation was appropriate. Multiple sources told Boston's WCBV TV that the investigation into Fresolo's conduct was launched after a female State House employee had filed a complaint in March.
Unlike Murray's resignation, there will be a special election for the state House seat vacated by Fresolo's resignation, with a primary set for August 13 and the final special election set to take place on September 10th, 2013.
Previously, Massachusetts has held the dubious distinction of having their last three speakers of the State House convicted of a felony.
Three acquaintances of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested on Wednesday afternoon for lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice after admitting to removing evidence from Tsarnaev's dorm room at UMass-Dartmouth after the Patriot's Day terrorist attack.
BOSTON (AP) — Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and accused Wednesday of removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to keep him from getting into trouble.
In court papers, the FBI said one of them threw the backpack in the garbage — it was later found in a landfill by law enforcement officers — after they concluded from news reports that Tsarnaev was one of the bombers.
Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, who are from Kazakhstan, were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence. A third man, Robel Phillipos, was charged with lying to investigators about the visit to Tsarnaev's room.
At a court appearance in the afternoon, the Kazakh men did not request bail and will be held for another hearing May 14. Phillipos was held for a hearing on Monday. Their lawyers refused to comment ahead of the proceeding.
All three men charged had been attending UMass-Dartmouth around the same time as the younger Tsarnaev brother. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were detained on charges they had violated their student visas last week. Not only was Tazhaykov allowed back into the USA from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan back in January, but Tsarnaev had reportedly bragged to the two Kazakhs that he knew how to make a bomb about a month before the Marathon bombings.
Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were reportedly in communication with Dzhokhar after the FBI press conference on April 18th where images of the two brothers pulled from surveillance cameras were released to the general public. The younger Tsarnaev communicated with the two Kazakhs via text message and reportedly removed a backpack, Vaseline and Dzhokhar's laptop computer from the dorm room and threw the items in the garbage. Police later recovered the items from a nearby landfill.
A little less than a week after Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody after a dramatic chase and shootout, several new facts about the two brothers are coming to light from investigators and victims alike.
Chief Deveau also disclosed dramatic details of the shoot-out, in which Tamerlan was killed, and revealed how, in the chaos, his death was caused by Dzhokhar.
A single officer was first to encounter the fugitives at 12.30am local time on Friday in a residential street in Watertown, a suburb of Boston.
They were in two separate vehicles, including a four-wheel-drive Mercedes they had carjacked.
Chief Deveau said: “They jump out of the cars and unload on our police officer. They both came out shooting. Shooting guns, handguns. He’s under direct fire, very close by.
“He has to jam it in reverse and try to get himself a little distance.”
As five other officers arrived, 200 shots were fired in 10 minutes. One of the brothers threw exploding devices including a pressure cooker bomb which landed on a car.
Tamerlan then broke cover and walked directly at officers firing a gun. The police chief said: “They were having a gunfight 10 feet apart. And then for us, thank God, he ran out of ammunition. He runs out of ammunition, the bad guy, and so one of my police officers comes off the side and tackles him in the street.”
As they tried to handcuff him, Dzhokhar drove the Mercedes straight at them but missed the police, hitting his own brother and dragging him 20ft before racing off.
Chief Deveau said: “The officers dive out of the way and he (Dzhokhar) drives over his brother and drags him a short distance down the street.”
Doctors said Tamerlan had injuries “head to toe”. There were so many they did not know which one had killed him.
The brothers were found to have had six improvised explosive devices including a satchel bomb, handguns, a rifle, 250 rounds of ammunition, and home-made grenades.
This has led to a number of Boston-area sports stations referring to Tamerlan as 'Speed Bump'- a practice that I shall likely emulate.
When their identities were first revealed to the world last week, media outlets had reported that Speed Bump complained on social media that he had no American friends while living in Cambridge. Some had pointed out he had one American friend from the gym, but he was brutally killed a few years ago in an unsolved triple homicide. This was brought up in the context that the murder might've contributed to Speed Bump's increased isolation while in America, even though circumstantial evidence is indicating that Speed Bump may have butally murdered his only American friend along with two others.
Police in Waltham, MA suspect that Tamerlan- the older of the two brothers- may have been responsible for a brutal 2011 triple slaying in that town. The bodies were found on September 12th, 2011 and all three victims had their throats cut. Police say there was no signs of forced entry and the assailant was let in by somebody in the apartment that likely knew the killer. They also ruled out robbery as a motive after the killer left behind several thousand dollars in cash and marijuana at the scene.
One of the victims in the 2011 murders, Brendan Mess, knew the older Tsarnaev brother from the Boston gym where they worked out and was reportedly interested in helping transition Tamerlan from boxing to mixed martial arts. The other victims included Raphael Teken and Erik Weissman. Weissman was a jew and the bodies were discovered the day after the 10 year anniversary of the September 11 attacks [acquaintances and classmates had described Dzhokhar as a happy-go-lucky pothead and Mess was known to have sold pot out of his apartment- leading me to wonder if sometime after had Speed Bump found Allah and decided to kill Mess thinking he sold pot to his kid brother- NANESB!].
Speed Bump wasn't present for Mess' funeral either, which friends and acquaintances thought was unusual at the time. Speed Bump then reportedly flew back to visit family in the Dagestan region of southern Russia a few months after the murders. Mess' ex-girlfriend was initially a suspect, but was out of town when the slayings took place. The Middlesex Country DA's office is reportedly pursuing any leads from the Boston Marathon bombing case that are related to the 2011 Waltham triple murder.
It was also believed that Dzhokhar had apparently attempted to take his own life while he was hiding on a boat surrounded by police at a backyard in Watertown, MA. The younger Tsarnaev brother reportedly sustained a gunshot wound to the throat as well as being shot in the leg- however, they're uncertain whether the throat wound came from police gunfire or if it was an unsuccessful attempt to kill himself as police closed in.
The wounded Dzhokhar was reportedly arrested by the FBI's Hostage Rescue Unit and a Massachusetts State Police Sepcial Tactics and Operations (STOP) unit and remains under guard at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital. Although he is unable to speak, he is said to be responding to written questions from investigators.
Investigators are beginning to piece together the events from the chaotic chase and shootout last week. The two Chechen brothers had reportedly ambushed MIT Campus Patrolman Sean Collier in his cruiser, killing him because they decided they needed an extra gun- although they never were able to figure out how to unholster the slain officer's service pistol.
Almost as chilling was the account from the carjacking victim- he said the two brothers told him they were the Marathon bombers and said the only reason they considered letting him live was because he wasn't American. The carjacking victim said one brother carjacked him and met up with the second brother.
“They basically said we did the Boston Marathon bombing, but the rest of their conversation is in Russian,” Miller said. ”Now, the carjack victim doesn’t speak much English and he doesn’t speak any Russian. So, he was debriefed very carefully about ‘what else could you hear they said?’
“He said the only word I recognized was Manhattan. That tripped a lot. That’s why we saw last week stopping the trains from Boston to New York, searching the trains, and the NYPD flipped on it’s network of license plate readers at all of the bridges and tunnels coming into the city and loaded all of the license plates associated with these guys, because if they were headed to New York, they wanted to make sure that that tripped before they got in.”
Miller told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 the brothers told him, “we’re not going to kill you, because you’re not American.”
The brothers then forced the victim to make several stops to pick up bombs and cash before he could escape at a gas station.
Questions also abound over where the two brothers had practiced their bomb-making craft. Although its likely they received some sort of training on one of their trips back to Dagestan, Chechnya or another troubled region in southern Russia, police in Hanover, MA were responding to reports of homemade bombs being set off along Route 53 in late March, just weeks before the Marathon bombing.
The bombs were fashioned using pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and ball bearings for maximum effect at close range. Similar devices have been used by terrorists and insurgents in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In 2010, British SAS commandos raided a Taliban bomb factory in Afghanistan. Among the devices recovered were bombs fashioned out of pressure cookers.
One of the last known images of 8 year old Martin Richard (blue oval). Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (red circle) is seen walking away from a backpack (red oval) believed to carry one of the two deadly bombs that tore through the crowd gathered to watch the Boston Marathon on April 15
Friends and classmates also turned out to bid farewell to BU student Lu Lingzi at a memorial service on campus on Monday evening. The funeral for 29 year old Krystle Campbell- the third fatality from the April 15th bombings- was held over the weekend in Medford, MA. Members of the Teamsters Local 25 had gathered across the street to shield the mourners from unwelcome intrusions upon hearing rumors that the hateful freakshow known as the Westboro Baptist Church would be picketing the funeral.
The city of Boston was under lockdown on Friday morning after a chaotic police chase from Cambridge to Watertown, MA and shootout where two men identified as suspects in the Patriot's Day bombing of the Boston marathon opened fire on police and lobbed grenades at them as they were pursued.
Tarek Ahmed, 45, told Fox News that the victim, whose Mercedes-Benz was reportedly stolen by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a young Caucasian man between 20 and 25 years old. Ahmed claimed that he was working at gas station on Memorial Drive, when the man ran into his store screaming, “Call the police! Call the police! These people are trying to kill me!”
"I thought he was drunk. I didn't believe him when he came in, it just sounded very crazy," Ahmed said. Despite his skepticism, Ahmed let the man, who has not been identified, inside to use his phone.
"He came very fast and was nervous and was afraid of the guy. He said they pushed him out of car," he said. "He went inside and closed the door. He was shaking and very nervous. I only believe him when the cops came."
Ahmed said that police collected surveillance videos from the station when they arrived, and also took photos from another store across the street where the suspects might have gone inside to purchase something. Police later released photographs of Dzhokar Tsarnaev exiting a Bank of America ATM in Watertown, Mass., at 11:18 p.m., where he withdrew $800, according to the NY Times.
Ahmed, who told reporters that he believed that the suspects had shoved the man out of the car after stopping to withdraw the money, said he was very shaken up after the encounter.
The gunmen were chased by police into a residential area of nearby Watertown- the FBI later claimed that at least five explosive devices were thrown at pursuing officers and the suspects and officers exchanged more than 200 rounds. One suspect, identified as 27 year old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was hit and later pronounced dead at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The other, known as Suspect 2 since Thursday Afternoon's FBI Press Conference, was identified as 19 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger brother of Tamerlan. During the firefight, MBTA Police officer Richard Donahue is struck and wounded- he remains in critical-but-stable condition as of Friday night.
Police immediately set up a perimiter around the Laurel Street area in Watertown and began searching for the subject. Gov Deval Patrick ordered MBTA buses, subways and commuter rail service closed down and area residents were warned to stay inside. Schools in the area- both public schools and the numerous colleges- were shut down as a precaution and a number of events scheduled for Friday night, including both the Bruins and Red Sox home games, are postponed.
By early Friday evening the lockout was lifted and the Massachusetts State Police hold a press conference where they infer that Dzhokhar has likely escaped the dragnet, but was likely still in the state of Massachusetts. That's when Dave Henneberry stepped out for a smoke in the backyard of his Franklin Street home and noticed that one of the straps covering the tarp on his boat was askew and went in for a closer look. That's when he noticed blood streaked along the side of the boat that was parked on a trailer in his backyard. After grabbing a stepladder, Henneberry grabbed the tarp and peered inside, spotting more bloodstains and reportedly seeing a body crumpled inside.
That's when Henneberry retreated back into his house and dialed 911. Not only had Dzhokhar been wounded in the shootout with police, but the 19 year old reportedly ran over his wounded brother in an attempt to get away.
By 8:58 PM ET, the following message was sent over the Boston Police Department's twitter account:
CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.
— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013
The announcement led to widespread spontaneous celebrations throughout a city that had been on edge since Monday.
With one suspect dead and the other in custody, police in New Bedford took three people into custody for questioning and searched off-campus housing at UMass-Dartmouth on Friday on reports that the younger Tsarnaev brother may have resided there at one time.
Monday's bombing killed 29 year old Krystle Campbell, 29, of Arlington, MA, Eight year old Martin Martin Richard of Dorchester, MA and a 23 year old BU grad student from China named Lu Lingzi.
Hours after an FBI press conference in which they showed photos and video of the two individuals considered suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, a MIT police officer was shot and killed by assailants on campus. The shooting was followed by a robbery, carjacking and cross-town pursuit where the gunmen opened fire on police with guns and grenades before crashing their stolen vehicle in nearby Watertown, MA.
WCBV-TV said the suspects threw and detonated explosives during a car chase with police.
Police were working to apprehend a young male with a hat on who was reportedly pulling on vehicle doors, according to police scanner traffic.
An FBI official told Fox News early Friday that one person was in custody and an officer was down but said it was too early to tell if the police activity in Watertown or the MIT shooting were related to the Boston Marathon bombing.
Dozens of officers and National Guard members descended on Watertown shortly after the shooting outside a building on MIT's campus in Cambridge, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities were calling for somebody to get on the ground and put their hands up and a loud thud was heard after someone shouted "fire in the hole," the news agency reported.
Witnesses told The Associated Press they heard 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 told news agency, "The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers."
Fox News reporters on the scene cannot yet confirm these reports.
Earlier Friday, Cambridge police and the Middlesex District Attorney's office said the MIT officer was responding to a report of a disturbance when he was shot multiple times late Thursday. He later died at a hospital. His name was not immediately released.
Procopio said the shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. outside an MIT building. The area was cordoned off and surrounded by responding law enforcement agencies, according to a posting on the university's website.
Procopio said authorities were searching for a suspect or suspects. No arrests have been made.
The university described the situation late Thursday as "active and extremely dangerous." People were urged to stay away from the Stata Building, a mixed use building with faculty offices, classrooms and a common area.
Officers from numerous agencies and reportedly exchanged gunfire and pursued the two suspects on foot- one of them was wounded and taken into custody while the other was still at large in the overnight hours. Police from Boston, Watertown, Cambridge, the MBTA, Boston College and the Massachusetts State Police quickly set up a perimeter and began an intensive search for the remaining suspect, with federal agents quickly arriving to aid in the search for the suspect and additional explosive devices he may have left in the area.
WFXT-TV and Boston Police commissioner Edward Davis had confirmed that the suspect in custody died at Boston's Beth Israel after the confrontation.
One suspect dead. One at large. Armed and dangerous. White hat suspect at large.
— Edward Davis (@EdDavis3) April 19, 2013
It is unclear whether or not the deceased suspect died from a gunshot wound or from one of the detonated explosive devices- an MBTA police officer is hospitalized after exchanging gunfire with the suspects after carjacking an SUV at a gas station adjacent to the MIT Campus in Cambridge.
The identities of the two bombers remain something of a mystery after conflicting reports overnight. Various social media users speculated that one of the bombing suspects is bore an uncanny resemblance to a Brown University student who has been missing for about a month, but NBC News indicated that the suspected bombers had unspecified foreign military experience.
FBI Photo
Police are urging area residents to remain indoors and only answer the door if they see a uniformed police officer knocking. Authorities have also made a decision to shut down MBTA service in the area to prevent the remaining suspect from fleeing or detonating any remaining explosives as people were waiting for trains or bus service.
The explosion happened after a gas leak in the area, which was reported around 4:20 P.M.
The loud boom, which came just after 5:00, could be heard and felt as far away as Hardwick, Granby, Belchertown, and Monson. In downtown, the explosion sent a huge cloud of smoke into the air, and people standing nearby were knocked to their feet.
The Scores gentlemen's club was destroyed in the explosion.
Scores was closed on Friday, sparing exotic dancers [as depicted by Carrie Keagan in the animated GIF above- NANESB!] from any immediate harm. Police and fire were reportedly already on the scene when the explosion took place. Although the blast injured 18 people, officials said there were no fatalities- many of the injured were firefighters and the area was already in the process of being evacuated.
Mayor Dominic Sarno and Massachusetts Lt Gov Tim Murray were attending a tree-lighting ceremony across town when the explosion took place. State Fire marshall Stephen Coan said that his agency would be responsible for investigating the cause of the blast.
Springfield is Western Massachusetts' largest city and is perhaps best known as being the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame and Theodore Geisel- who would go on to be the author known as Dr Seuss. Some portions of the city are still rebuilding from a tornado that ripped through the city in June 2011.
Annie Dookhan- the Massachusetts crime lab technician who's fradulent test results have thrown thousands of convictions into question.
A lab chemist at Massachusetts' William A Hinton State Laboratory was arrested by State Police on charges of witness intimidation earlier on Friday after she confessed to improperly handling evidence turned over for testing and forging supervisors signatures on paperwork.
State police say Dookhan tested more than 60,000 drug samples involving 34,000 defendants during her nine years at the lab. Defense lawyers and prosecutors are scrambling to figure out how to deal with the fallout.
Since the lab closed, more than a dozen drug defendants are back on the street while their attorneys challenge the charges based on Dookhan's misconduct.
Many more defendants are expected to be released. Authorities say more than 1,100 inmates are currently serving time in cases in which Dookhan was the primary or secondary chemist.
The scandal prompted the resignation of the state's public health commissioner and the resignations of two others.
Dookhan is charged with witness intimidation, a crime punishable by as many as 10 years in prison, and pretending to hold a degree, punishable by as much as a year in jail.
Dookhan had once testified under oath that she holds a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, but school officials have said they have no record of her receiving an advanced degree or taking graduate courses there.
In a police interview, Dookhan admitted to faking results of drug tests for at least two years as well as forging colleagues and supervisors initials on paperwork and signing off on negative drug samples she knew were negative as positive.
In July of 2011, Dookhan was suspended after she was caught forging a colleague's initials on a lab report. She resigned in March 2012 as the Commonwealth's Department of Public Health investigated her caseload. The lab was run by the agency until July of this year when the State Police took control.
So not only does Dookhan's conduct allow an opening for some guilty parties to get out of prison, questions about whether or not any innocent people remain locked up due to her negligence and mishandling of potentially exculpatory evidence.
If that is the case, I think it should only be fair to allow some of the wrongly convicted individuals to crash at her residence in Franklin, MA....you know, until they can get back on their feet.
