General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat happened at MIT?
Just wondering if there was some special reason they were at MIT?
The officer who was shot - I've seen this referenced as officer "responding to a disturbance" - but also seen it referenced to the 7-11 robbery.
Was there both a robbery and a disturbance?
elleng
(130,698 posts)'Just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday, the pair walked up to a parked police car at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Sean Collier, a 26-year-old campus officer, was nearing the end of his 3-to-11 p.m. shift.
A security camera would later show two men approaching the car and speaking to the officer. Abruptly, one of the men was seen pulling a gun and shooting Collier multiple times, including once in the head. Some officers concluded that the shooting was an effort to provoke a larger confrontation with police.
They were looking to start something, one official said.
Collier was found in his car by other police and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. By then, the Tsarnaevs had moved on.'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022726401
morningfog
(18,115 posts)I mean, I don't understand any of it, but especially this. Why did they do it? WHy draw attention to themselves? THey knew their pictures were going out and they were getting nervous and desperate, but this just started the endgame.
Maybe that was the point, but I can't make sense of it.
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Maybe the cop recognized them and went to his car to call for help?
And then they took his guns. Cold killers, those kids. I wonder which did the actual killing of the cop.
moondust
(19,955 posts)For some reason they walked up to the police car, possibly summoned by a suspicious Officer Collier. "Hey, what are you guys doing over there?" As they got closer, Officer Collier recognized them as the bombing suspects. They immediately saw that he recognized them so they shot him before he could take any action.
Just a guess.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Given the situation - I think any cop engaging a person of interest would have a weapon drawn.
moondust
(19,955 posts)He may have just thought they looked lost or needed some help and yelled out his car window. Then they approached and everything changed. It would be interesting to see the video.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Just exercising his duty to be vigilant about people walking around on-campus at night. As moondust said, it could have begun as an innocuous encounter.
gateley
(62,683 posts)I'm wondering if they were surprised their pictures got out there so fast, panicked, and decided to do what they could before it all came to an end one way or another.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Margaret Chabris, the director of corporate communication at 7- Eleven, says the surveillance video of the crime was not taken at a 7-Eleven and that the suspect that did rob the 7-Eleven does not look like Tamerlan or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)i do not get this sequence of events either including why they shot him and why they were there
Thanks OP for bringing this up!
hexola
(4,835 posts)http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/04/boston-bombing-suspects-robbed-7-11-before-shooting-rampage-with-police/
This one actually attributes the image to the 7-11 robbery.
elleng
(130,698 posts)but for some reason they decided to shoot cop at MIT, then carjack + obtain cash from carowner's ATM card, ride on with the car which was then identified when owner informed cops, hence hot pursuit, shooting of #1, and #2 flees, finally on foot into area around Watertown.
Guys fleeing once i.d.s identified by publicity, so #2 can't stay @ school in dartmouth any longer, they have to flee.
Got it? Watching 'new' mystery show, so not 100% plugged in at the moment.
elleng
(130,698 posts)hexola
(4,835 posts)For guys who were living with little visible means of support - perhaps the rug was pulled out from under them?
elleng
(130,698 posts)Who was paying #2's tuition/room/board? One of the facts someones know, but not us at the moment.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)the bombers stopped at 7-11 but someone else robbed the place and that this footage was taken from 7-11 before someone else came in and robbed it.
Wow busy night at that store!
hexola
(4,835 posts)10 minutes between the two events.
I guess its possible that the coincidence of the robbery(police presence) - spooked the bombers, who just happened to be there.
They might not have known about the robbery at all.
ananda
(28,831 posts)Nothing those killers did was rational.
So it's probably fruitless to try to impute
any logic to their actions.
All I see is fear, hate, and the fight-flight reflex.
applegrove
(118,455 posts)at the video of the robbers they came across footage of the two who matched the bombers description. And the hunt was on.
DrewFlorida
(1,096 posts)to plant a bomb on the MIT campus.
doc03
(35,292 posts)RobinA
(9,884 posts)if they had anything to do with the MIT cop. I get the feeling that in the end the story of what happened is going to look a whole lot different than the current story.
I'm also curious about the throwing explosives at the police tale. Time will tell...
hexola
(4,835 posts)it sounds like the cop was taken by surprise.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Officers knew the stolen car was coming to Watertown because they were tracking its movement through the victims cellphone. The suspects took $800 from an ATM in Watertown Square from the victims account before an officer spotted the car. The brothers one in the stolen car, the other in a second car jumped out of the cars and started shooting at the lone officer even as backup rushed to the scene, said Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau.
snot
(10,496 posts)hexola
(4,835 posts)This story has some interesting info - and makes it sound like they went to a few different ATMs - before - letting him go (or escape)
http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/21/give-thanks-for-dumb-terrorists/
The mystery involves what happened next: The Tsarnaevs either dumped their hostage at a Cambridge gas station, or allowed him to escape, perhaps in the confusion after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was caught trying to shoplift junk food from the gas stations convenience store. (That would count as another pretty boneheaded move, by the way.) The man was unharmed, though understandably hysterical, and immediately called 911.