I may have a little insight into Robbie's HOW question. For a number of years I worked in the same building as the organization that runs the marathon and so had the day off from work because, really, they needed the elevators. I lived really close to Copley Square and I would often head to the area of the finish line on marathon day, I would arrive around 3 pm. Think of that as sort of like 45 minutes after the ball drops on New Year's Eve in Times Square. There are still people, it's crowded, but it's very easy to get around, particularly onto the blocks where the finish line is. The tight as a drum security is much lighter than it is the whole week before the race and the first few hours of runners crossing the finish line. It's like a sigh of relief period.
Last year, the night before the marathon it was possible to walk down the middle of Boylston Street but you couldn't get anywhere near the stands, onto them or anywhere behind them. We even took pictures of ourselves running with our dog over the finish line. But everything else was completely cordoned off and patrolled. It stays that way until the event is winding down, which it was when these bombs went off.
I had heard reports at one point today that the FBI says there is area surveillance footage with somebody dopping a backpack into a trash can at the corner where the first blast happened. I have also heard a lot of stupid reportage on my area stations. One newscaster keeps saying, "This doesn't happen in Boston," but OBVIOUSLY it happened in Boston. Newscasters keep marveling that first responders ran to the area of the explosion to help. This is America. Why does that surprise them? THAT is what Americans do. If we can help somebody in trouble, WE TRY TO HELP SOMEBODY IN TROUBLE. These are not the isolated stories. The isolated stories are of the sick individuals who inflict death and harm on others. The reports of "traumatic amputations" at the scene have left me dazed. I hear sirens out my window tonight. I think back to the plot the FBI interrupted a few years back where a group of low life white supremacists was plotting to blow up Boston's beautiful Holocaust Memorial outside Faneuil Hall. I was down near that last night, and that plot came to mind as it always does when I go by there. And I ended up in the North End, the traditional carbo-boost location for many who run the next day.
Anyway, I am rambling on at this point. I am dreading the release of the names of the killed and injured.
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