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Watertown Family Describe Minutes Leading to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Arrest
By Nanore Barsoumian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/04/20/watertown-family-describe-minutes-leading-to-dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-arrest/
April 20, 2013
WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.) - There was a heavy police and military presence
in Watertown on Fri., April 19, as police searched for 19-year-old
Dzokhar Tsarnaev. The suspect, a resident of Cambridge, had gone on a
violent rampage the night of April 18, together with his 26-year-old
brother Tamerlan. After gunning down an MIT police officer and
seriously wounding a transit police officer, the brothers carjacked an
SUV and drove to Watertown. An exchange of gunfire near the Weekly
offices ensued between police and the two suspects, during which
Tamerlane was shot and killed. The brothers, who are reportedly from
Chechnya, were suspects in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings that
took the lives of 3 and injured over 160 others.
A SWAT team prepares to conduct door to door searches across the
street from Baikar Association. (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian, The
Armenian Weekly)
Dzokhar Tsarnaev escaped that exchange with police, and remained at
large throughout most of the day. As SWAT teams conducted door-to-door
searches in a 20-block radius in Watertown, authorities advised
residents to stay indoors. Businesses remained closed and streets were
eerily deserted while police cruisers, bomb squads, armored vehicles
whizzed through the streets, and black hawks hovered overhead. At
around 8:45 p.m. on April 19, the manhunt for Tsarnaev came to an end
when he was found hiding in a boat behind a house on Franklin St.
Emmanuel Der Torossian and his daughter Julie, 13, whose back porch
overlooks Franklin St., ventured into the streets for a stroll soon
after the police lifted the curfew in the neighborhood at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, a neighbor spotted a body in a boat behind his house and
notified the police. `The police came running through. They told
everyone to get off the streets and to go into their homes, but we
couldn't go home... [the police] stopped us from going back,' Emmanuel
told the Weekly last night, as police officers worked to apprehend the
suspect. The police blocked off the street, preventing the Der
Torossians from returning home. Officers evacuated the neighborhood,
escorting Emmanuel and Julie to another street, where they waited
anxiously for hours. In the midst of the chaos, Emmanuel's wife Marina
and son Joey were taken out of their home and onto a different street.
That part of town, added Emmanuel, is populated mostly by Armenians.
`It's a quiet area and so it's easy to hide. No one would suspect
something like this. He was behind my house this whole time,' said
Julie, anxiously looking in the direction of the flashing blue lights
down the street. Minutes later, the family was reunited, and together
saw the end to an unnerving ordeal.
Marina had a different story to tell. With a father, 83, and a brother
in Aleppo, Syria - the site of an escalating human rights crisis - Marina
has long been fearing for their safety. When her sister called her on
Marathon Monday, asking if she had heard about the bombs, Marina
thought her worse fears had come true.
`I thought she meant my father's apartment in Aleppo had been hit by a
bomb. I hadn't been following the news. My legs got week, until she
told me that she was talking about Boston. I turned to the news on TV
and couldn't believe my eyes... All day I was like a zombie,' Marina
told the Weekly.
The Der Torossian family, moments after being reunited (Photo by Aaron
Spagnolo, The Armenian Weekly)
Late on April 18, she heard gunshots, and saw police officers
searching her driveway. That night, she and her kids did not sleep.
They didn't the following day, either. Marina was about to leave her
house when she saw soldiers rushing down her street towards her house.
Her neighbor informed her that the suspect had been located one street
over. Marina picked up her phone and called her husband who was out on
a walk with their daughter.
`I was on the phone with my husband, when suddenly there were
gunshots. I lay flat on the ground and I made my son do the same. I
did not know where the gunshots were coming from. Two minutes later
there were knocks on our door. There were officers. They told us to
leave the house immediately. I grabbed what was there, a pair of
snow-boots and a heavy winter coat, and ran outside,' said Marina. The
officers then used their back porch as a perch to watch the suspect's
movements.
`My back porch overlooks Franklin St., and I could see the officers
advancing. There were five officers behind our house. There were
numerous officers on Franklin St., and I couldn't find my husband and
daughter. I was shaking, my entire body was shaking,' she said,
adding, `I hope today brings an end to this.'
After hours of being under lockdown, hundreds of Watertown residents
came out of their homes. Some cheered, others thanked police officers,
and many waived American flags. Tsarnaev was taken to a Boston
hospital, and reportedly is in serious but stable condition.
A SWAT team conducts door to door searches. (Photo by Nanore
Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly) An armored vehicle transporting a
SWAT team (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly)
By Nanore Barsoumian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/04/20/watertown-family-describe-minutes-leading-to-dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-arrest/
April 20, 2013
WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.) - There was a heavy police and military presence
in Watertown on Fri., April 19, as police searched for 19-year-old
Dzokhar Tsarnaev. The suspect, a resident of Cambridge, had gone on a
violent rampage the night of April 18, together with his 26-year-old
brother Tamerlan. After gunning down an MIT police officer and
seriously wounding a transit police officer, the brothers carjacked an
SUV and drove to Watertown. An exchange of gunfire near the Weekly
offices ensued between police and the two suspects, during which
Tamerlane was shot and killed. The brothers, who are reportedly from
Chechnya, were suspects in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings that
took the lives of 3 and injured over 160 others.
A SWAT team prepares to conduct door to door searches across the
street from Baikar Association. (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian, The
Armenian Weekly)
Dzokhar Tsarnaev escaped that exchange with police, and remained at
large throughout most of the day. As SWAT teams conducted door-to-door
searches in a 20-block radius in Watertown, authorities advised
residents to stay indoors. Businesses remained closed and streets were
eerily deserted while police cruisers, bomb squads, armored vehicles
whizzed through the streets, and black hawks hovered overhead. At
around 8:45 p.m. on April 19, the manhunt for Tsarnaev came to an end
when he was found hiding in a boat behind a house on Franklin St.
Emmanuel Der Torossian and his daughter Julie, 13, whose back porch
overlooks Franklin St., ventured into the streets for a stroll soon
after the police lifted the curfew in the neighborhood at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, a neighbor spotted a body in a boat behind his house and
notified the police. `The police came running through. They told
everyone to get off the streets and to go into their homes, but we
couldn't go home... [the police] stopped us from going back,' Emmanuel
told the Weekly last night, as police officers worked to apprehend the
suspect. The police blocked off the street, preventing the Der
Torossians from returning home. Officers evacuated the neighborhood,
escorting Emmanuel and Julie to another street, where they waited
anxiously for hours. In the midst of the chaos, Emmanuel's wife Marina
and son Joey were taken out of their home and onto a different street.
That part of town, added Emmanuel, is populated mostly by Armenians.
`It's a quiet area and so it's easy to hide. No one would suspect
something like this. He was behind my house this whole time,' said
Julie, anxiously looking in the direction of the flashing blue lights
down the street. Minutes later, the family was reunited, and together
saw the end to an unnerving ordeal.
Marina had a different story to tell. With a father, 83, and a brother
in Aleppo, Syria - the site of an escalating human rights crisis - Marina
has long been fearing for their safety. When her sister called her on
Marathon Monday, asking if she had heard about the bombs, Marina
thought her worse fears had come true.
`I thought she meant my father's apartment in Aleppo had been hit by a
bomb. I hadn't been following the news. My legs got week, until she
told me that she was talking about Boston. I turned to the news on TV
and couldn't believe my eyes... All day I was like a zombie,' Marina
told the Weekly.
The Der Torossian family, moments after being reunited (Photo by Aaron
Spagnolo, The Armenian Weekly)
Late on April 18, she heard gunshots, and saw police officers
searching her driveway. That night, she and her kids did not sleep.
They didn't the following day, either. Marina was about to leave her
house when she saw soldiers rushing down her street towards her house.
Her neighbor informed her that the suspect had been located one street
over. Marina picked up her phone and called her husband who was out on
a walk with their daughter.
`I was on the phone with my husband, when suddenly there were
gunshots. I lay flat on the ground and I made my son do the same. I
did not know where the gunshots were coming from. Two minutes later
there were knocks on our door. There were officers. They told us to
leave the house immediately. I grabbed what was there, a pair of
snow-boots and a heavy winter coat, and ran outside,' said Marina. The
officers then used their back porch as a perch to watch the suspect's
movements.
`My back porch overlooks Franklin St., and I could see the officers
advancing. There were five officers behind our house. There were
numerous officers on Franklin St., and I couldn't find my husband and
daughter. I was shaking, my entire body was shaking,' she said,
adding, `I hope today brings an end to this.'
After hours of being under lockdown, hundreds of Watertown residents
came out of their homes. Some cheered, others thanked police officers,
and many waived American flags. Tsarnaev was taken to a Boston
hospital, and reportedly is in serious but stable condition.
A SWAT team conducts door to door searches. (Photo by Nanore
Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly) An armored vehicle transporting a
SWAT team (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly)