The Boston Marathon bombers went on a bloody rampage after their pictures were released to the public — allegedly killing a cop, stealing a car and tossing bombs at police during a frenzied chase that ended with one suspect dead and another in custody.
The chaos upended Boston, which was on lockdown as thousands of cops fanned over the metro area in a massive manhunt for the surviving suspect, who was finally captured last night in the suburb of Watertown.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THE HUNT UNFOLDED
His brother had already been killed in a shootout with police.
“The ordeal that this community has endured over the last 24 hours — tonight we can sleep a bit easier,” said US Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was caught in the back yard of a Watertown house, where the bloodied suspect had holed up in a covered 24-foot boat.
He was in critical condition at a local hospital, with gunshot wounds to the leg and neck, sources said.
He and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, set out on their frantic escape from the city the night before — a few hours after the FBI released their photos and said they were the men wanted on charges of murdering three people and wounding 176 others.
At 10:20 p.m., the Tsarnaev brothers gunned down MIT campus cop Sean Collier as he sat defenseless in his cruiser, authorities said.
STORIES
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MEDIA
» Photos: Hunt for suspect
» http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/2013/04/20/media/web_terror01.pdf” target=’_BLANK’>Map: A 2-day trail of blood
» http://www.nypost.com/p/news/boston_marathon_bombings_suspect_f71z10H5f6ZtjwSdXkoDUJ” target=’_BLANK’>Video: press conference
The brothers, who were driving a Honda CRV, then carjacked a Mercedes SUV. They drove separately in each car, but then ditched the Honda and both rode in the Mercedes, cops said.
The brothers held its driver captive for a terrifying half-hour as they went to three ATMs to withdraw $800, police said.
“Tell the police that we did the bombing,” they told the motorist, law-enforcement sources said.
They stopped at a Mobil station in Cambridge, where Dzhokhar got out and grabbed Red Bull, candy and chips. He tried to dash off without paying, but an employee told him to stop, the owner said. He dropped the food and walked out.
The fugitives then took off toward Watertown in the SUV, leading cops on a fiery chase — lobbing explosives out of the car and opening fire on officers with AK-47s.
The pursuit came to a sudden halt in the suburb, where a witness said the pair continued to shoot at cops from behind a car. They also lobbed more explosives at the officers.
One transit cop — 33-year-old Richard Donohue — was shot in the leg and was in critical condition following surgery.
Witnesses described a scene of absolute mayhem in the leafy suburb. “They were shooting. Then they were throwing things,” said witness James Floyd.
“One thing that they threw caused a big, big explosion — it knocked things off my wall. They were throwing to hit the police officers,” said Floyd.
“Then it looked like one of them tried to run at a police officer and tried to tackle him. One guy got into the black car and it looked like he ran over the other guy and another man and then there were about 30 gunshots.”
Tamerlan was shot nine times during the firefight, sources said. He was then run over by his brother as he sped off in the SUV.
“The guy was left on the ground,” said Floyd.
Investigators found an explosive device strapped to Tamerlan, who died later at a hospital.
The men also had what appeared to be seven explosive devices in their Cambridge apartment, law-enforcement sources said.
Cops spent the whole day scouring Watertown for the fugitive bomber.
They tracked him to a back yard around 7 p.m. hiding in the boat.
Boat owner Dave Henneberry had just stepped outside when the lockdown was lifted, and noticed blood on his vessel.
“He unhooked the zipper door [on the canvas wrapped around the boat]. He saw there was a body,” George Pizzuto, a neighbor of the older man told The Post. “So he ran in the house and called the police right away.”
Cops raced to the house, and opened fire when they thought Tsarnaev reached for a weapon, sources said. It was unclear if his wounds were inflicted then or during the earlier shootout.
Witnesses said cops yelled, “We know you’re in there. Come out with your hands up!” The Boston Globe reported.
Police used a flash bang grenade to stun Tsarnaev, who had gunshot wounds to his leg and neck, and an FBI team hauled him away, the sources said.
Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights because investigators plan to invoke the public safety exception so they could question him about accomplices or other bombs, authorities said.
As ambulance carried the perp down Franklin Street in Watertown, the police chief gave everyone a thumbs-up.
The crowd cheered, “Good job! Nice work, guys! Thank you!”
Someone else yelled, “Take that f–ker out of here!”
Some kids threw their Red Sox caps in the air.
Police Commissioner Ed Davis said over the radios, “It’s a proud day to be a Boston police officer. Thank you all.”
“We got him,” Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted as cheers erupted from the crowd.
Additional reporting by Jennifer Bain and Dana Sauchelli in Boston, Larry Celona and Philip Messing in NY, and Post Wire Services