# Bomber suspect in boat was unarmed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2013, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651 "2013-04-25T09:11:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/41 "2013-04-25T21:44:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > oh, that was an embarassing post then. Can you tell I’ve been trying to avoid the news lately ?🙂 I hear ya. My question for the police now is: how in the hell did you put that many holes in the boat and fail to kill this guy? ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/42 "2013-04-25T21:53:46Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Most explosives don’t work that way. If anything the trick is to GET it to actually explode in the first place… > …Now, there are some explosive substances that if you look at em wrong they can go off, but those guys weren’t using that and for obvious reasons nobody else does either if they can help it. I totally agree with you if the guy was using military ordnance, but I thought a lot of improvised explosives were fairly sensitive, particularly if sensitized by impurities? Thinking primarily of the various explosive peroxides, but I guess half-assed homemade nitroglycerin would count too. How sensitive to spark is the salvaged fireworks powder they evidently used to power their bombs? Considering you’d preferably want the guy alive, I don’t know why you wouldn’t try to tase him, hit him with a tranquilizer dart (yeah, I know that life isn’t like Deus Ex—still, would the Boston Zoo have means to rapidly put him down?), or a beanbag projectile. All from a distance, in case he actually did have a suicide vest. Or shit, just talk to him. (Maybe they tried that first?) Shredding the boat with small-arms fire seems suboptimal… OTOH, the holes in the photo could have come from shrapnel/spall from the pyrotechnic they used at first, and not from bullets. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/43 "2013-04-25T22:02:48Z")
Just an aside…any chance the owner of the boat could exhibit it at county fairs and such? Just like the Bonny & Clyde “death car”. The boat looks like swiss cheese. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/44 "2013-04-25T22:04:01Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I hear ya. My question for the police now is: how in the hell did you put that many holes in the boat and fail to kill this guy? He was really good at “serpentening” (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/45 "2013-04-25T22:07:10Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Just an aside..any chance the owner of the boat could exhibit it at county fairs and such? Just like the Bonny & Clyde “death car”. > The boat looks like swiss cheese. I don’t have a cite, but you could probably find one, that people are offering the boat owner money to replace it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/46 "2013-04-25T22:07:13Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Considering you’d preferably want the guy alive, I don’t know why you wouldn’t try to tase him, hit him with a tranquilizer dart (yeah, I know that life isn’t like Deus Ex—still, would the Boston Zoo have means to rapidly put him down?), or a beanbag projectile. He was lying down on the floor of a boat. I don’t think any of this stuff would have been an option. > [@](#): > > Or shit, just talk to him. (Maybe they tried that first?) They did try. He didn’t respond because he’d taken a bullet to the throat and (I assume) had lost a significant amount of blood. I think he eventually managed to stand up but he couldn’t talk and I don’t think he was in any kind of condition to get out of the boat. Going in with the robot and the grenade makes all the sense in the world. I’m just curious about circumstances that led them to open fire on the boat. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/47 "2013-04-25T22:46:29Z")
Photo on this page of him getting out of the boat: [Official: Boston suspect awake, responding in writing](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/21/boston-bombings-suspect-marathon/2100733/) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/48 "2013-04-26T00:29:22Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I don’t have a cite, but you could probably find one, that people are offering the boat owner money to replace it. They already raised $50,000 to replace the boat on the internet. The owner said it should all go to the fund to help victims of the bombings. Sometimes people are good. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/49 "2013-04-26T01:23:28Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Oh, and the owner saw blood in his yard and blood on the guy in the boat when he peeked in The latter part is what amazes me. Bombing suspect on the run; a cop dead; an armed carjacking; dude ran over his own brother during a gunfight with cops… If I saw blood in the backyard I’d hope I would think twice before checking it out myself! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/50 "2013-04-26T01:24:27Z")
I’ve been wondering since it happened how someone too bled-out or in shock to respond when a homeowner discovers his hiding place is all geared up and raging during a firefight with police. Now that there’s news he was unarmed, I’m wondering about that whole thing a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/51 "2013-04-26T01:56:03Z")
I’m going to go ahead and guess that he was sleeping in the boat when he was spotted by the owner. He had just been on the run and through hell for 24 hours straight, so sleeping is not unlikely. But as soon as cops start to arrive, there’s reason to assume he could’ve woken up and gotten dangerous. Nobody knew he was unarmed, but everybody knew he had recently been so and was incredibly dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/52 "2013-04-26T03:51:00Z")
I’m beginning to think he was semiconscious from blood loss. I was following the internet scanner feed that night and the cops were debating if he was alive or dead. The three flash bang grenades probably got him moving again and not long after he climbed out of the boat. Usually those flash bang grenades are used in a room and stun the perp. It must have been ten times worse setting one off in a confined space like a boat. Using three in a row like the cops did was serious overkill. I’ve wondered if the suspect’s eardrums were punctured from the shock wave. I realize the guy maimed a lot of people and he deserves whatever sentence is given. He really should have given up when that homeowner saw him. > [@Taomist](#): > > I’ve been wondering since it happened how someone too bled-out or in shock to respond when a homeowner discovers his hiding place is all geared up and raging during a firefight with police. > > Now that there’s news he was unarmed, I’m wondering about that whole thing a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/53 "2013-04-26T16:13:56Z")
Surely the boat has been impounded for evidence until after the statute of limitations passes for the inevitable lawsuit that his delusional mother will file against the city. You know, cause we Americans didn’t protect her sons from violence. As far as replacing the boat, I wonder if homeowner’s insurance will cover it. I feel kind of sorry for the poor underwriter who has to handle this case. I doubt there’s a line for “terrorist holes up in your boat, after which law enforcement riddles it with bullets.” ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/54 "2013-04-26T17:32:36Z")
The cops who shot up the boat need to justify the shooting, just like any other “officer discharges his or her weapon” event. If the suspect was motionless in the boat, then the cops need to be fired. It’s not complicated. Just because there was a terrorist bombing, it doesn’t mean that suddenly all cops are infallible heroes. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/55 "2013-04-26T17:59:04Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > If the suspect was motionless in the boat, then the cops need to be fired. It’s not complicated. Just because there was a terrorist bombing, it doesn’t mean that suddenly all cops are infallible heroes. Balls. This wasn’t just some crackhead who got scared and shot a cop and was hiding out. This was someone reasonably adept at creating and using homemade explosive devices, remote-controlled detonators, and who had wilfully and recently murdered multiple civilians, deliberately murdered a cop and was hiding out. I think it’d be fair to say he’d voluntarily forfeited some of his legal protections. “Motionless” is the preferred preparatory stance for an ambush. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/56 "2013-04-26T18:10:18Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > If the suspect was motionless in the boat, then the cops need to be fired. If that’s what typically happens in this kind of situation, which I kind of doubt. They also don’t need to be treated worse than any other cops who are (potentially) too quick on the trigger when dealing with a multiple murderer on the loose. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/57 "2013-04-26T18:20:28Z")
This is kind of ridiculous. This isn’t a case of hot pursuit and a cop finds himself alone in a dark alley with a dangerous suspect. This a case of a combined local and federal force, with massive resources on hand, having to deal with one injured and isolated suspect. If the suspect was motionless in the boat, then yes, whoever tried to murder the boat by emptying their weapons into it clearly needs to be in another line of work. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/58 "2013-04-26T18:47:48Z")
Blank Slate, you and all the rest of us are sitting comfortably in our homes, and typing away at the computer. We have the benefit of hindsight, the police officers didn’t. Don’t be so quick to judgement of people who’d just had a colleague murdered, had themselves been shot at earlier(some of them anyway) and saw civilians blown to pieces. Would you be so quick to have the cops fired if that eight year old boy who died was your son, or brother, or nephew? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/59 "2013-04-26T19:14:17Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Don’t be so quick to judgement of people who’d just had a colleague murdered, had themselves been shot at earlier(some of them anyway) and saw civilians blown to pieces. That actually raises another interesting question, this one about proper procedure from command’s perspective. After the first officer-involved shootout with the two brothers, shouldn’t the officers that were directly involved in that (shot their guns) been taken off-duty? Were they? Were any of them involved in the second altercation at the boat many hours later? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651/60 "2013-04-26T19:22:25Z")
I’ve been careful to include the caveat:_if the suspect was lying motionless in the boat._ There has been all kinds of mis-information disseminated in this case. So who knows? I really would like to know why the boat was shot to shit. Maybe the suspect started climbing out when he was told remain still. I’m not hoping a cop gets fired, but if this is a case of a cop shooting for no good reason then that individual doesn’t belong in law enforcement. And if my eight year old nephew was killed in the bombing, I hope I wouldn’t lose my common sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bomber-suspect-in-boat-was-unarmed/656651.md?page=4)