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| This combination of images released by the FBI on Thursday, April 18, 2013, show two images taken from surveillance video of who the FBI are calling suspect number 2, left, in white cap, and suspect number 1, right, in black cap, as they walk near each other through the crowd before the explosions at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2013. |
BOSTON (AP)
-- Plucking a couple of blurry faces in baseball caps out of a swarming
crowd, the FBI zeroed in on two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing
and shared surveillance-camera images of them with the world Thursday in
hopes the public will help hunt them down.
The
photos and video depict one young man in a dark cap and another in a
white cap worn backward, both carrying backpacks and one walking behind
the other on the sidewalk near the finish line as marathoners run by.
The
man in the white hat was seen setting down a backpack at the site of
the second explosion, said Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in
Boston.
"Somebody out there knows these
individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members of the
suspects," he said. "Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting
on those with information to come forward and provide it to us."
They
looked much like typical college students, but DesLauriers described
them as armed and extremely dangerous, and urged anyone who sees or
knows them to tell law enforcement and "do not take any action on your
own."
The break in the investigation came just
three days after the attack that killed three people, tore off limbs
and raised the specter of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. FBI
photo-analysis specialists have been analyzing a mountain of
surveillance footage and amateur pictures and video for clues to who
carried out the attack and why.
The volume of
information is likely to grow, joined now by a torrent of tips from
people who think they might know the suspects. In releasing the images,
the FBI gambled that useful clues will emerge, not just time-wasting
leads.
Authorities are selective in putting
out images of suspects because doing so risks tipping off the hunted and
losing the element of surprise. But it can be a last resort when
authorities hit a wall trying to identify or capture someone.
Within moments of the announcement, the FBI website crashed, perhaps because of a crush of visitors.
The
images were released hours after President Barack Obama and first lady
Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic
cathedral in Boston to remember the dead and the more than 180 wounded
in the twin blasts Monday at the finish line of the 26.2-mile race.
The
FBI video is a compilation of segments, altogether about 30 seconds
long. The planting of the backpack, as described by authorities, was not
part of the footage made public.
The man in
the dark hat was dubbed Suspect 1 and appeared to be wearing sunglasses.
The other, in the white hat, was labeled Suspect 2. Both appeared to be
wearing dark jackets. The FBI did not comment on the men's height,
weight or age range and would not discuss their ethnicity.
"It
would be inappropriate to comment on the ethnicity of the men because
it could lead people down the wrong path potentially," said FBI agent
Greg Comcowich, a spokesman for the Boston FBI office.
While
authorities said the information on the men began coming together over
the previous day or so, agent Daniel Curtin said the FBI did not release
the photos earlier because "it's important to get it right."
Distribution of the images brought both encouragement and unease to some Bostonians.
Jennifer Lauro of Topsfield, Mass., worried that the photos might breed unease and suspicion.
"It
just looks like a college kid, so I think that's going to make people
feel vulnerable," she said. "Because it could be anybody. It looks like
any kid from Boston College or Boston University or any other school."
Judy
and Marc Ehrlich watched the marathon from a spot between miles 25 and
26 on Monday and felt the ground shake when the bombs exploded. The
couple said it was creepy to see images of the suspects who were there
at the same time, walking around. But they were comforted that the FBI
had come up with suspects.
"Unless they kill themselves, they're going to get found," Marc Ehrlich said. He added: "There's nowhere in the world to hide."
At
the Cathedral of the Holy Cross earlier in the day, Obama declared to
the people of Boston: "Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever
committed this heinous act." He spoke in almost mocking terms of those
who commit such violence.
"We finish the race,
and we do that because of who we are," the president said to applause.
"And that's what the perpetrators of such senseless violence - these
small, stunted individuals who would destroy instead of build and think
somehow that makes them important - that's what they don't understand."
"We will find you," he warned.
Seven
victims remained in critical condition. Killed were 8-year-old Martin
Richard of Boston, 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell of
Medford, Mass., and Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate
student from China.
Video and photos recovered
in the investigation are being examined and enhanced by an FBI unit
called the Operational Technologies Division, said Joe DiZinno, former
director of the FBI lab in Quantico, Va.
Investigators
are looking at video frame by frame - a laborious process, though one
aided by far more sophisticated facial recognition technology than is
commercially available, forensic specialists said.
The
investigation will probably collect about a million hours of videotape
from fixed security cameras and cellphones and cameras used by
spectators, said Gene Grindstaff, a scientist at Intergraph Corp., a
Huntsville, Ala., company that makes video analysis software used by the
FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
But
after years of investigating terrorist incidents and other crimes, the
FBI is practiced at cataloging, categorizing and analyzing such evidence
and will winnow it down dramatically, he said.
"Back
in the days of 20 years ago, you were lucky if you had video and it was
probably of poor quality and it took a tremendous amount of
enhancement. Today you have a completely different issue," Grindstaff
said.
Investigators can set the video analysis
software so that it automatically searches for certain types of objects
or people matching a height and weight description. The software can
also spot patterns that analysts might not notice, such as a certain car
that turns up in different places, Grindstaff said.
DiZinno,
who ran the FBI lab from 2007 to 2010, said any retrieved bomb
components such as the pressure cookers, shrapnel and pieces of timers
or wire will be closely examined for fingerprints, DNA, hairs and
fibers.
The bomb components would be traced by
figuring out the item's maker, where each piece is typically purchased
and whether the device resembles any bombs the FBI has seen in past
attacks. The FBI lab keeps a detailed file on past bombings, including
many overseas attacks.
"Let's say there was a
timer," DiZinno said. "Was there a serial number? Who was the
manufacturer? That can provide leads for investigators."
One
pressure cooker maker, the Fagor Group in Spain, said that it has been
contacted by U.S. investigators and that company officials are extending
full cooperation. The company sells 250,000 pressure cookers a year in
the U.S. and 1 million worldwide.
