Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Boston Suspect # 1

On Monday two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed and over 170 were injured by the infernal devices. The explosion took place four hours after the start of the beloved race from Hopkington to Boston Garden held every year on Patriots Day commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord. My friend Eric was waiting for his wife on Columbus and Berkeley. She was in the changing room at the corner of Arlington and Boylston. His 82 year-old father-in-law went out to search for Meredith. They are both Boston natives. Two minutes later Eric heard a sharp boom and then ten seconds afterwards a smaller thud. "Bombs." He deducted within a second and called his wife. She was okay and he ran outside to get her father, whom he found standing in the rush of screaming people. "It was like 9/11." Eric collected his wife and got on the Mass Pike to drive west to Springfield before the police shut down the highways. East-bound traffic was dominated by first responders and black Ford SUVs with lights flashing within the shaded windows. I was glad to hear that he had escape harm. My older brother was fine. He worked on the other side of the Commons. Nobody I knew had been hurt, but my heart as well as many of those across the nation felt for the families of the dead and wounded, while asking, "Who?" Fox News was quick to accuse an Arab extremist, but upon seeing the footage on TV I immediately thought 'white male, 42, angry at liberals, pro-gun, anti-abortion and from New Hampshire'. Why New Hampshire? Just a hunch. Suspect # 2 a lone Muslim angered by the hunger strike at Git-Mo. I have no # 3. Two days later the FBI haven't a lead other than the bombs themselves. "It will take time... but we will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice” President Obama vowed, as the FBI transported the evidence to Quantico for further investigation.

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