Boston bombing suspect nabbed

AP- WATERTOWN, Massachusetts:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect who was being hunted in the Boston Marathon bombing has been found and is now in police custody.



Tsarnaev is a 19-year-old college student.



Earlier, his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a shootout and was run over by the younger Tsarnaev as he lay wounded, according to investigators.



Officials say the suspect was found in a boat by police officers who rushed into the neighbourhood in armoured vehicles and tactical gear.



The burst of activity came after police announced that they were scaling back the hunt because they had come up empty-handed following an all-day search that sent thousands of SWAT team officers into the streets and paralyzed the metropolitan area.



A hail of gunfire was heard from the neighbourhood, followed by a round of blasts about an hour later.



"We heard a series of shots, really staccato-like. Then 30 to 40 cops just rolled by and everything gets crazy," said Kevin Leblanc, of Reading, who had come to Watertown to see what was happening.



An official said the suspect was covered in blood.



During an overnight spasm of violence, the brothers shot and killed an MIT policeman and severely wounded another officer, authorities said.



Reporters were being kept away from the scene, about a mile from where authorities said Tsarnaev and his brother got in a shootout with police hours earlier.



Wellington Guimaraes, who lives in a house nearby, said he was watching heavily armed police move in when he heard shots.



"I saw them moving in, the dogs coming in and then I heard the shots — boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! — a bunch of shots right behind the house where there's a big boat stored. ... Then there's cops all over."



Before the gunfire, State Police Timothy Alben said at a news conference that he believed Tsarnaev was still in Massachusetts because of his ties to the area.



But authorities lifted the stay-indoors warning for people in the Boston area, and the transit system started running again by evening.



"We can't continue to lockdown an entire city or an entire state," Alben said. At the same time, he and other authorities warned that Tsarnaev is a killer and that people should be vigilant.



Tsarnaev fled on foot after a furious overnight gun battle that left 200 spent rounds behind and after a wild car chase in which he and his brother hurled explosives at police, authorities said.



FOR MORE STORIES WATCH:

Like our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/gleanerjamaica



Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/JamaicaGleaner



onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com