About 90 minutes ago, shots were fired on the campus of MIT in Cambridge.
It is being reported that a campus police officer has been shot and has life threatening injuries.
There is a heavy police presence at MIT as well as at Mass General Hospital and the Mass Ave Bridge.
A massive search is being conducted for the gunman or gunmen at this hour.
It is not known if this incident has any connection to Monday’s terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon.
UPDATE I: It is just past midnight and the officer who was shot has passed away. He was responding to a disturbance and was shot multiple times.
Cambridge Police are stopping Red Line trains searching for the suspect(s).
Even if there is no connection to the Marathon attacks, this has been a horrible, horrible week.
I’m going to try to get some sleep.
UPDATE II: I awoke just after 5 a.m. to find out that indeed the incident at MIT was indeed connected to the Boston Marathon bombings.
Prior to the shooting, a robbery took place at a 7-11 store in Cambridge’s Central Square (the second bombing suspect was shown on surveillance tape). Shortly thereafter, the MIT officer was ambushed in his squad car.
The suspects carjacked a vehicle and fled to Watertown where they were pursued by authorities. According to the driver, the two admitted they were the Boston Marathon bombers. The driver was released from his vehicle unharmed. Bomb devices were thrown from the vehicle onto the road. A firefight later ensued and the suspect in the black hat was shot and later died at Beth Israel Deaconess. The suspect in the white hat is still at large. During this melee, an MBTA officer was shot and is reportedly in critical condition.
Police are conducting house to house search in Watertown for the suspect in the white hat.
It has now been revealed by the AP that the two suspects are brothers from Russia in the Chechnya. They previously lived in Turkey, had foreign military training, have been in this country for a year and are legal U.S. residents who lived in Cambridge. The suspect on the run has been identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who is 19-years old.
I think it is now safe to say that the terrorists are indeed Muslim.
The MBTA has been shut down until further notice and residents in Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton and the Boston neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton have been told to remain in their homes.
I have been told not to report to work today.
UPDATE III: WHDH is reporting that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaped the firefight which killed his older brother by taking a SUV a running over his brother. So much for brotherly love. The SUV was found abandoned a quarter mile away.
UPDATE IV: Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis has received word from Mayor Tom Menino that all residents in the City of Boston are to remain in their homes. You don’t have to tell me twice.
UPDATE V: Taxi service in Boston has now also been suspended.
UPDATE VI: WHDH is reporting there was an off camera interview with a friend of both bombers. They apparently attended Cambridge Rindge & Latin School and have been in the country for seven or eight years.
It appears that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received a $2,500 scholarship from the City of Cambridge in 2011.
UPDATE VII: Authorities have directed their attention to a house in Watertown. The WHDH crew was told by authorities to leave the scene.
UPDATE VIII: The bombers resided on Norfolk Street in Cambridge and neighboring residents have been evacuated as authorities search their home.
UPDATE IX: I just saw an interview with an auto mechanic in Somerville who knew the brothers who brought in their cars to be serviced. He said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came to his shop on Tuesday (the day after the Boston Marathon Bombings). Tsarnaev had brought in his girlfriend’s Mercedes and was angered that the repairs hadn’t been completed. The mechanic noted that Tsarnaev was biting his nails.
UPDATE X: The MIT police officer who was slain last night has been identified as Sean Collier. He had served as a police officer for a year and previously had worked as a civilian employee for the Somerville Police Department. Collier was 26.
UPDATE XI: UMass-Dartmouth has been evacuated. Apparently one of the Tsarnaev brothers was a student there.
UPDATE XII: Authorities have concentrated their efforts in an area near the Arsenal Mall in Watertown. A man is laying on the ground although it is not clear if it’s Tsarnaev.
In a separate item, cab service in Boston has been restored.
UPDATE XIII: I saw an interview with one of the Tsarneav’s uncles who resides in Maryland. Apparently there is no love lost between him and his brother as he has not seen his nephews since 2005. He made a point of saying that his nephews had been radicalized but not by his brother constantly because he constantly worked.
The uncle indicated his nephews were born in Kyrgyzstan and that the family came to the U.S. a decade ago.
He said that his nephews “put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity” and begged the forgiveness of the families of those who were harmed by them.
UPDATE XIV: A neighbor of the Tsarnaevs was interviewed. He noted that when their parents went back to Russia about a year ago, Tamerlan (the older brother) grew a large beard and began to don traditional Muslim garb. However, a month ago he abruptly shaved his beard and reverted to secular clothing.
UPDATE XV: NBC News is reporting that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sworn in as a U.S. citizen last year. The swearing in ceremony took place on September 11th.
UPDATE XVI: A bit of good news. The condition of MBTA officer Richard Donahue, Jr. has been upgraded from critical to serious.
UPDATE XVII: Fox News is reporting that the home of one of the Tsarrnaev’s sisters in West New York, New Jersey has been searched and a computer has been seized.
They are also reporting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent part of 2012 in Russia.
UPDATE XVIII: I saw an interview with the Tsarnaev’s aunt who lives in Toronto and claims she is a lawyer. She is not convinced her nephews did this and that the photos of them were “staged”. She sounds like a loon.
