Update: Conflicting reports about whether an arrest has been made in the Boston bombings. More soon. http://trib.in/17GaRTG
Arrest made in Boston Marathon bombings case
Authorities may have arrested a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings based on security video that showed a man depositing a bag at the bomb scene before the blasts, according to two media reports citing U.S. and Boston law enforcement sources.
CNN and Fox News have reported an arrest has been made, while the Associated Press and Boston Globe say the bombing suspect is in custody and expected in federal court. However, CBS and NBC are reporting there has not been an arrest in the case.
An official announcement is expected at 4 p.m. central time.
Bombing investigators have searched through thousands of pieces of evidence from cell phone pictures to shrapnel shards pulled from victims' legs.
Based on shards of metal, fabric, wires and a battery recovered at the scene, the focus turned to whomever may have made bombs in pressure cooker pots and taken them in heavy black nylon bags to the finish line of the world-famous race watched by crowds of spectators.
The twin bombs in Boston, which killed three people and injured 176 others, was the worst attack in the United States since security was stepped up across the country after the September 11, 2001 hijacked plane strikes.
A stretch of Boston's Boylston Street almost a mile long and blocks around it remained closed on Wednesday as investigators searched for clues. The explosions sprayed shrapnel far enough that police were collecting fragments from rooftops along the marathon's course.
Nylon fragments, ball bearings and nails
Among the items recovered at the bomb scene were pieces of black nylon that could be from a backpack, fragments of ball bearings and nails, and possibly the remains of a pressure cooker device, Richard DesLauriers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's special agent in charge in Boston, told a news conference on Tuesday. Evidence collected at the scene was being reconstructed at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, DesLauriers said.
Bomb scene pictures produced by the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force and released on Tuesday show the remains of an explosive device including twisted pieces of a metal container, wires, a battery and what appears to be a small circuit board.
