A World in Pictures - Keanu Gomez

Aftermath of the 1st explosion

The morning of the April 13, 2013 started out like any other great morning in the United States. For some, it might have been even more special because of the celebration of Patriots’ Day in Maine and Massachusetts. It was a great three-day weekend where both parents and students had no work or school.

Unfortunately, this bright and promising day was about to disappear.

One of the most anticipated events on this day was the Boston Marathon. And about two hours after the 1^st place winner had crossed the finish line, two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line exploded with a 13 second interval between them. These bombs killed 3 people and injured an additional 264 others. The marathon was halted immediately and all forms of transportation were disabled.

A few days after the bombings, Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were reported to have killed an MIT policeman, carjacked an SUV, and initiated an exchange of gunfire with the police of Watertown, Massachusetts. During these events, Tamerlan Tsarneaev was shot multiple times and was killed by his own brother having run over him with the stolen SUV. Soon after, Dzhokhar was captured and interrogated by the police. He apparently blamed his dead brother as being the mastermind of the operation and their motives were identified by a note hanging on the wall of the boat where Tamerlan was hiding. It was revealed to have said “retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq” and it claimed the Boston victims as “collateral damage”.

Although the numbers don’t compare to the damages during other events like 9/11, this event still evidently shocked our nation. For a terrorist attack to occur on the day America commemorates the anniversary of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War, is indeed unfortunate. But it is through catastrophic events like this where our nation is best united. After the Boston Marathon Bombings, some remembrance events were held in other states including, a nearly one month long cross country run to the Boston Marathon finish line starting from Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California.