© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Many Questions Remain About Boston Bombing Case

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Massachusetts observes a moment of silence at 2:50 this afternoon. That's the time one week ago that bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

GREENE: Three people were killed, scores were injured. After last week's dramatic chase, federal prosecutors are preparing to charge the lone surviving suspect. That suspect is still hospitalized, with his exact legal status a subject of some debate.

INSKEEP: And it's with the suspect that NPR's David Schaper begins our report.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: Nineteen-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seriously wounded and under the care of doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston and under the guard of federal agents. It's not yet clear exactly how or when the teenager was wounded, nor who inflicted those injuries. Sources tell NPR Tsarnaev's wounds are to his neck or jaw area, and are preventing him from talking with investigators, but he is communicating in writing.

Investigators continue to build the case in other ways. Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says that includes examining bomb fragments left scattered along the final few blocks of the Boston Marathon route.

ED DAVIS: There's been an enormous amount of work picking up every miniscule piece of what was left of those bombs, and I have worked with the ATF for many years. I am confident that they will put that bomb back together again piece by piece and tell us exactly what it was made of.

SCHAPER: Davis says Dzhokhar and 26-year old Tamerlan Tsarnaev - who was fatally wounded during the brothers' attempt to flee from police - may have been planning additional attacks, given the amount of improvised explosive devices they had with them during that dramatic police chase.

Federal prosecutors are preparing criminal and possible terrorism-related charges against the surviving Tsarnaev, and there is word of more video evidence.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told NBC Sunday that the surveillance video shows Dzhokhar putting down his backpack, not reacting at all when the first bomb went off, and then calmly moving away from the bag before the bomb in it explodes.

GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK: Pretty clear about his involvement, and pretty chilling, frankly.

SCHAPER: In the meantime, many Bostonians paused this weekend to reflect and look for solace.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SCHAPER: A special mass was held Sunday at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross to remember the victims, as well as to honor the police, federal agents and others who rushed to help.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley offered up prayers for the victims and the survivors, and told the congregation that love is stronger than death.

CARDINAL SEAN O'MALLEY: I hope that the events of this past week have taught us all how high the stakes are. We must build a civilization of love, or there will be no civilization at all.

SCHAPER: There were other services and interfaith gatherings around Boston. The wake for 29-year-old Krystal Campbell was held last night. Her funeral will be today. Boston University will hold a memorial service today for Lu Lingzi, the 23-year-old graduate student from China killed in the blasts. And there are more to come.

And thousands of Bostonians attended a different kind of cathedral this weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey, Red Sox, Royals. Programs (unintelligible). One dollar.

SCHAPER: This is a passionate sports town, after all, so what better place to heal and bond as a city than Fenway Park for a Red Sox game?

Thirty two-year-old Ryan DeStefano says he bought a last-minute ticket because he had to be there.

RYAN DESTEFANO: After the week we had here in Boston, I felt I wanted to be a part of the city coming together and getting back here and singing the National Anthem with everybody here in Boston.

SCHAPER: DeStefano says Bostonians have always been tight with one another, but he says the city really proved it this past week, and grew even closer.

David Schaper, NPR News, Boston. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

David Schaper is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, based in Chicago, primarily covering transportation and infrastructure, as well as breaking news in Chicago and the Midwest.