Boston Herald Names Roommate Of Saudi Man Questioned By Police

[Lone_Star_Dem]

The Boston Herald published the name of a roommate of the Saudi Arabia man whom police have questioned about the Boston Marathon bombings. 

Mohammed Hassan Bada, 20, told the paper that police spent five hours in their apartment, located in Revere, Mass., adding that he signed a piece of paper to let the authorities inside. He said he was scared and that police questioned him with an Arabic translator. Police took items from the apartment, Baba said.

The two men have a third roommate, another Saudi man, who is 19 years old and was traveling in New York at the time, Bada said, according to the report.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boston-herald-names-roommate-of-saudi-man-questioned

This is what all of that was about last night.

[PDJane]

1. The police have said today that he's a witness, not a suspect.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. MSNBC says this about the young men.....

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/15/17767721-officials-to-public-send-photos-video-from-boston-marathon-bombings?lite

Law enforcement officials told NBC News that authorities questioned a 20-year-old man who is in the United States on a valid student visa. He was seen running from the blast area, had burns and was interviewed in a Boston hospital. But an official told NBC News that interest in the man was fading. It was his apartment building, in the Boston suburb of Revere, that police and federal agents searched overnight.

Overnight, law enforcement officials searched a suburban Boston apartment building, interviewed a man and removed a duffel bag and two trash bags. But a law enforcement official later told NBC News that nothing of interest was found. They also issued alerts for a rental van and a man seen leaving the scene of the blasts.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. It sounds like the roommate was scared to death when he realized his friend was being questioned.

Or, at least that's how it read to me.

[randome]

3. Why publish names?

They KNOW what some idiotic vigilante might do. Are they that stupid to think it's at all newsworthy to put names in the public space during an ongoing investigation?

[graham4anything]

7. IMHO Names should never be released. Use alleged prior to trail, if guilty, murderer after.

Why the need for say, John Lennon's asssasssin to be put name to name next to him?
That a-wipe got what he wanted. Fame.

No to naming.

(and I know people say in a free society one cannot do it.
Well, why can't they?

[femmocrat]

8. Agree.

This young man will probably have to go into hiding now. His name and address are all over the news.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. It's beyond irresponsible.

I can't help but feel they exploited a terrified young man who wanted to clear their names by interviewing him while he was in shock. Now he and his roommates could be in danger.

[DotGone]

10. I wouldn't expect less from the Boston Herald

I can't decide who has more journalistic integrity, the Herald or Star magazine.

[joeybee12]

4. Have the racist phucks at The Herald released the names of anyone else?

Talk about irresponsible.

[MADem]

11. There are lots of names out there, already. Victims, witnesses.

Not too many addresses, though. We know what building these guys live in, we also know where the little boy who was murdered, one of the first victims, Martin, lived.

The suggestion here, of course, shopped by the Herald to anyone not schooled at reading between lines, is that the Third Roommate (first I've heard of a third) is "The Bad Guy" and he's run off to New York or parts unknown to escape justice.

It's just too early to make that leap, though, based on the information provided to the public to this point.

[joeybee12]

14. Some guy on ESPN this morning said there were runners, witnesses, etc. who

were persons of interest, although the nationality of the Saudi was the only details he gave on any of the people...when there are going to be many, many people jumping to conclusions, the media has to show at least a grain of responsibility.

[MADem]

15. There's the media, and there's the Murdoch-owned Herald.

The Herald has always been a fishwrap...except that even a dead fish would probably cringe, come back to life, and make a great leap to avoid being wrapped in that piece of crap....

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. They reportedly found nothing of interest at the apt.

The only reason this I even being made into a big deal is because they are Saudi.

Some FOX news bobble head was "joking" around on twitter yesterday that all Saudis were evil and should die. Naming these people is insane. Especially since they appear to be no more involved than any another person who knows someone who was there, or was there and hurt in the explosions.

[MADem]

18. They took away two black trash bags full of stuff and a duffel bag.

No idea what was in 'em, but it might have been stuff they wanted a translator to run through.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. This is from post #2 in this thread.

I'm on my phone, so I'm limited in my searches and posting abilities. I did read that they'd not found anything of interest there earlier myself today, however.

Law enforcement officials told NBC News that authorities questioned a 20-year-old man who is in the United States on a valid student visa. He was seen running from the blast area, had burns and was interviewed in a Boston hospital. But an official told NBC News that interest in the man was fading. It was his apartment building, in the Boston suburb of Revere, that police and federal agents searched overnight.

Overnight, law enforcement officials searched a suburban Boston apartment building, interviewed a man and removed a duffel bag and two trash bags. But a law enforcement official later told NBC News that nothing of interest was found. They also issued alerts for a rental van and a man seen leaving the scene of the blasts.

I can't shake the feeling that these folks were scared and in their attempts to make it clear they weren't responsible, they now have placed a spotlight on their heads for every hate filled racist nut to find them by.

As to the FBI removing things, they were invited in to search. Of course considering what had just transpired they were going to avail themselves of the chance. If every person at the race yesterday gave them the same offer, they'd leave each one of their homes with items to go through at their leisure. That wouldn't make any of those people any more or less the person responsible, though.

[MADem]

24. I don't think we're disagreeing, here.

Even with a single translator accompanying police, the translator really can't be reading documents AND assisting the police with translation on scene.

It wouldn't be out-of-whack for the police to remove documents for perusal off-site by a team of people. It's less stressful, at the end of the day, than having a half dozen people come to the apartment and work for hours or days at a time combing through stuff.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. Oh, no we're not.

Last edited Tue Apr 16, 2013, 03:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Sorry. I was thinking through what you'd said and letting my fingers expound on my mental conclusions.

I didn't mean to make it sound as if you were disagreeing with me.

[MADem]

31. The news is reporting that the "third roommate" may not have been a roommate, but a

brief visitor.

It would be terrible if the mandated hospitality that is a cultural hallmark was used in a nefarious way.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

34. It's so jumbled right now. I've heard it reported that they all three were in the US on student visa

Bada (the roommate named above) when questioned today by the local Boston NBC affiliate said his friends were "good people." He also said in in the linked above interview he'd lived with the roommate in the hospital and another 19 year old who was traveling in New York yesterday, for the past 5 months.

I have a feeling the news is just still trying to make a mountain out of an Arabic molehill, at least where these three are involved.

[demosincebirth]

17. Don't you think they have to check everyone who they might think could be a suspect? This is a

fucking serious crime and people were killed and many were injured...not like some corner liquor store heist. If they do catch the ones responsible you may just have to eat your words. If they do apprehend the ones responsible and they are a couple of white guys, which I think you hope they might be, so be it. Hang 'em at the nearest lanyard. That's the way I feel. Black, white, yellow or pink. It doesn't make a difference to me.

[joeybee12]

23. Excuse me, but what the phuck are you talking about...

This thread is about the Herald releasing the names...of course the police is should talk to everyone...but the newspaper should not be releasing identifying information...and they did only with one person...the ONE WHO WASN'T White.

[demosincebirth]

29. Your're excused, but it seem like you do know what I'm talking about.

[joeybee12]

30. Whatever

[Marrah_G]

20. I hate the herald

[Ian David]

5. Here are pictures of what the police took from his apartment...

(Okay, not really).

[MADem]

13. That is really unfunny and tasteless. nt

[LittleBlue]

25. You got me for a second

Bastard

[backscatter712]

32. No one can defeat the quad laser! n/t

[Marrah_G]

19. They have to follow up on all leads

I hope they make sure people know about it if these men are cleared of any wrong doing.

[Rex]

21. I am sure they couldn't wait to write the name 'Mohammed'

nah...that probably had nothing to do with it.

[alp227]

27. The Herald is desperate to sell papers.

And could the third roommate have flown off to NYC so soon after the bombing? I thought the Boston airport was shut down for a while after the explosions. or maybe that guy was out of state all day?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

28. Is Herald NewsCorp?

I know it's akin to the Globe as the NY Post is to the NY Times.

[npk]

33. This man will now need protection. Thanks to the Herald. n/t