BOSTON, Mass. — After a night of restful sleep following the capture of suspect number 2 in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing case, police searched 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Cambridge apartment Saturday for evidence and towed away his car.
Investigators said they believe Tsarnaev and his brother acted alone in the attack in which two bombs detonated.
The younger Tsarnaev attended the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth. The campus was closed Saturday while police detectives searched for clues and questioned
students.
A university administrator said the suspect had attended class every day after the Monday bombing until late Thursday. Tsarnaev was reported to have even gone to parties held in the dorms.
On Saturday, security was tight inside and outside the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where Tsarnaev was reported to be still alive. At least 15 of the victims of the Boston Marathon attack are also being treated there.
CNN has reported that Tsarnaev suffered an injury to his throat and may not be able to talk.
He’s currently being sedated.
Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau gave details on how his department took Tsarnaev alive Friday night. He talked with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
He revealed that just minutes after police had lifted the lockdown on the area, a man called 9-1-1 to report that he saw blood on the tarp over his boat and believed someone was hiding in there.
Nearly 2,000 police officers, state troopers and law enforcement tactical units responded to the lead.
The authorities put a negotiator in place in the second story of the adjacent house to the boat where the suspect was hiding, and launched a helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging camera.
“We had state police helicopter that could tell us when there was movement in the boat by the heat sensor. So we could tell he was alive and moving and began negotiations that way and over a long period of time we were able to get him to surrender,” Deveau said.
The Justice Department is expected to handle the case and file charges against Tsarnaev very soon. He may also face state murder charges as well.
Monday’s attacks killed three people and injured more than one hundred others.
Fifty-seven people are still in the hospital.
If physically able, Tsarnaev could appear in court as early as Saturday night, but will most likely appear on Monday.
For now, the government is holding the suspect as an enemy combatant, which allows investigators to question him without reading his Miranda rights or providing him with an attorney.
However, because Tsarnaev is an American citizen and the crime was committed within the country, law experts don’t think the government will be able to try him as an enemy combatant.
