By Todd Feathers, News Staff
Authorities investigating the devastating Boston Marathon bombing have made significant progress in identifying the person or persons responsible for the attack, although reports that a suspect was in custody Wednesday were premature, a city official told The News.
The two bombs that shattered the gaiety of Boylston Street on Monday afternoon, killing three people and injuring more than 170, appear to have been pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and BBs, the FBI said. Multiple news outlets cited unnamed law enforcement officials as saying that videos obtained Wednesday from businesses near the bombing had led authorities to a suspect, although the FBI vehemently denied that was the case.
“Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack,” an FBI statement said.
The investigators made visible progress at the Boylston Street blast site, however, reopening several streets that had previously been closed as part of what Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis called the largest crime scene in the city’s history.
“Every hour we’re closer,” Governor Deval Patrick said of the investigation in an interview with CNN. “When [authorities] have a complete picture, they will tell us what that picture is.”
Addressing the nation, President Barack Obama said the attack is being treated as an act of terrorism.
Good news trickled in from the many local hospitals that treated victims of the attack – many of whom were admitted on the verge of death or had limbs amputated.
At least three of the hospitals said they did not expect any of their current patients to die, and most of their bomb victims had been discharged.
Doctors were still treating 18 patients at Boston Medical Center, two in critical condition, spokesperson Gina Digravio said.
Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 11 patients, four in critical condition, spokesperson Katie Marquedant said.
Tufts Medical Center was treating six patients, none of them in critical condition, spokesperson Jeremy Lechan said.
The mass confusion following the bombing made it difficult to establish how many patients were admitted following the bombings and how many were still hospitalized, Boston EMS spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan said.
The severity of the non-fatal injuries ranged from minor flesh wounds to burns to amputated limbs, she said.
“We found nails that looked almost like carpet tacks, maybe a centimeter long that were sticking out of a kid’s body,” David Mooney, an emergency room doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital, said at a press conference Tuesday.
Just hours after the bombs incinerated the light-hearted marathon atmosphere, authorities were already assuring residents of a heightened security presence throughout the city.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, National Guard soldiers in full camouflage gear patrolled most MBTA stations while police and SWAT teams maintained a heavy presence at government buildings, hospitals and other locations prone to large crowds.
Authorities evacuated people from John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in South Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Wednesday after unspecified bomb scares, although no threat was identified, the Boston Police Department said.
The FBI canceled a highly anticipated press conference Wednesday night — which many hoped would shed light on the conflicting reports about an arrest being made — following the bomb scares.
As of publication, the FBI stuck by it’s claims that no suspects had been identified.
“All across the nation, and around the world, the force of the United States is working hard to locate those responsible,” Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said Tuesday.
