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 The blasts tore through the crowded finish line of the world
renowned race, injuring spectators, volunteers and athletes, in the
worst mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since the September 11, 2011
attacks that killed 3,000 people.
This year's race, set for April 21, will take place in an
environment of heightened security with the 36,000 runners and tens
of thousands of expected spectators facing new restrictions,
including bans on carrying backpacks into the race corridor.
Federal prosecutors say that a pair of ethnic Chechen brothers,
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, carried their homemade
pressure-cooker bombs to the finish line in backpacks.
The bombs killed Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Campbell, 29, and
Chinese national Lu Lingzi, 23.
Three days after the attack, the FBI released pictures of the
suspected bombers and requested the public's help in finding them.
That prompted the Tsarnaev brothers to attempt a hasty flight from
Boston, which began with them shooting dead Massachusetts Institute
of Technology police officer Sean Collier, prosecutors said, in an
unsuccessful attempt to steal his gun.
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That prompted a police chase that ended in a gunbattle in the Boston
suburb of Watertown. Tamerlan, 26, was killed and Dzhokhar, now 20,
escaped before being captured on April 19. The brother is awaiting
trial on charges that carry the possibility of execution if he is
convicted.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by Grant McCool)
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