
Shots fired at MIT - report of an active shooter near Bldg. 32 (Stata) - weisser
http://emergency.mit.net/
======
WestCoastJustin
Breakdown of what is happening on this reddit thread [1]. You can listen to
the police scanner here [2]. Live steaming video here [3]. For those listening
on the scanner this is the area/streets they are talking about [4].

[1]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1cnwms/mods_removed_th...](http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1cnwms/mods_removed_thread_live_updates_of_boston/)

[2] [http://tunein.com/radio/Boston-Police-Fire-and-EMS-
Scanner-s...](http://tunein.com/radio/Boston-Police-Fire-and-EMS-
Scanner-s146109/)

[3] <http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive>

[4]
[https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=100+talcott&hl=en&ll=4...](https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=100+talcott&hl=en&ll=42.363142,-71.162395&spn=0.003413,0.008256&sll=42.363142,-71.16342&sspn=0.003413,0.0103&hq=100+talcott&t=m&z=18)

~~~
a_p
The most accurate information may be gleaned from police scanners. News
cameras may give you pictures of the amount of police officers at the scene,
but they cannot get close enough to give you video of what's actually
happening. The irony is that of those three sources of information (Web site,
radio, news camera), the best source of "real time" information is the oldest.
Yes, it's true that the scanner is being broadcast over the internet, but you
could listen to the police scanner with amateur radio equipment decades ago.

EDIT: I find that it is much easier to listen to the police scanner than a
news station, because the SNR ratio is much higher. When there is a break in
the action, news reporters fill the air time with speculation or repeat the
same old information. On the police scanner, when they have no new
information, they are silent.

Having said that, I still find it cool to hear an officer ask the dispatcher
(on the radio) to tell an overhead helicopter to point a searchlight at a
certain location, and moments later see on television a helicopter flying
overhead with its searchlight on.

~~~
kellishaver
Maybe it's the fact that I spent my youth growing up around HAM radio and then
did several years of EMS dispatching, but I much prefer listening to the
scanner than the news. It can be chaotic at times, garbled at others, but if
you're used to sorting it out, it's the best way to get accurate information.

~~~
flexd
There are a lot of people listening. I think perhaps the best way of learning
information now is to follow the info posted in #bostonbombing on Freenode,
they are live-updating what they hear on the scanners + a lot of other
sources.

------
uvdiv
An MIT police officer was killed.

 _A university police officer has died after being shot on the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge late Thursday, according to state
police._

[http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/cambridge-
gunshots/index.ht...](http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/cambridge-
gunshots/index.html)

~~~
anigbrowl
It may or may not be connected, but police in Boston have surrounded two men
who are exchanging automatic gunfire them and have thrown grenades, another
officer down. The grenades have been mentioned repeatedly, it's not 'I think I
heard.'

<http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/6254/web> via Reddit.

:-/

~~~
dsrguru
That's in Watertown not Cambridge, so it sounds unrelated. All this stuff
happening around Boston at the same time jeez

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10002469/Boston-
marathon-bombs-live.html)

~~~
rexreed
Watertown is the next town over, and just up the road from where they filled
up with fuel after carjacking... so, yeah, looks like it might be very
related.

~~~
kd0amg
I heard the carjacking reported on scanner while the MIT standoff was still
going on, and there was a pretty short time between police at the MIT incident
switching channels and some frantic-sounding talk from police following up on
LoJack's report that the stolen car was in Watertown. So I'm inclined to
believe these are two separate things.

~~~
rexreed
Here's a helpful map of the events that happened so far that show the
proximity of the various events:

[https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=200082141349599835237.0...](https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=200082141349599835237.0004daaf434ba5147dce8&msa=0&iwloc=A)

~~~
kd0amg
The carjacking victim reported that they'd been driving around for about half
an hour before he escaped at a gas station. Time's arrow beats proximity.

~~~
mattdeboard
Occam's razor beats "time's arrow".

------
untog
Don't wish to make light of this at all, but I do wonder- how often does this
happen? After all, "shots fired" is not an uncommon thing in many cities in
the US.

I just wonder whether we will look back in 12 months time at the "week of
hell" and realise that it was actually just a week in which we found all the
things that usually go on _every week_ that we don't hear about.

~~~
ra
Having never lived in the US, I find it astounding that you could make a
comment like that and get so many nods.

I've never even heard a gunshot, and I don't know anyone who ever has.

~~~
jlgreco
When I used to live in Philadelphia, summer holiday nights used to be very
unnerving. Previously I had thought that firing guns wildly into the air in
some form of celebration was something that was only done in underdeveloped
countries... I grew up in a very rural area where there were lots of guns, but
nobody was that irresponsible with them.

~~~
grecy
> I had thought that firing guns wildly into the air in some form of
> celebration was something that was only done in underdeveloped countries...

...it is.

~~~
youngerdryas
And the hate America first crowd rolls on.

~~~
grecy
no, no, no, you're looking at it all wrong.

The crowd is not "Hate America".

The Crowd is "America needs to get better". The first step to fixing problems
in to acknowledge they exist.

I don't know about you, I strive for constant improvement in my life.

~~~
youngerdryas
Listen to the uncle of the bombers, he has more sense than you.

~~~
jlgreco
At the very least, in the specific case of people firing their guns wildly
into the air on holidays, I think it is fair to say that there is plenty of
room for improvement.

------
weisser
"Second officer down, hand grenades and automatic gunfire."

In Watertown, Spruce and Lincoln.

<http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/6254/web>

~~~
emily37
The feed is no longer working for me, maybe too much traffic? Does anyone know
of a live transcript?

~~~
sandipc
[http://tunein.com/radio/Boston-Police-Fire-and-EMS-
Scanner-s...](http://tunein.com/radio/Boston-Police-Fire-and-EMS-
Scanner-s146109/)

------
emily37
"There was a shooting at 32 Vassar St... No suspect description... No
direction of flight..." MIT officer was shot and weapon stolen, I think they
said the weapon was recovered. Officer is at MGH. Witness in lobby of Stata
saw man in cowboy hat.

(All that on the police scanner in the last minute or so)

~~~
weisser
Live stream of police scanner:
<http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/6254/web>

~~~
marcamillion
Thanks for this.

Kinda feels weird sitting in Jamaica listening to the police scanner around
MIT.

Kinda awesome too - I know the tech is simple...but actually experiencing it,
gives you this "world is small" feeling.

~~~
nikatwork
I would dearly love to be able to listen to the Jamaican police scanner!

~~~
marcamillion
Hrmmm....now that I think about it...so would I!

I wonder how that could be arranged.

------
hingisundhorsa
Anyone else get the feeling we are we making HN become like every news/forum
site now? Reporting every and any shot fired anywhere in the world?

~~~
ovis
I would imagine that MIT is particularly close to the hearts of many on this
site.

~~~
hingisundhorsa
Sigh. That justifies spamming HN?

------
weisser
via the Atlantic Wire:
[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/theres-
shoot...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/theres-shooter-
loose-and-officer-down-mit/64379/)

MIT issued an emergency alert at 10:48 on Monay night reporting shots fired on
the university campus. The school newspaper reports, "Shots fired near 32
Vassar St (Stata Center), police officer down. Please stay inside." For now,
details are scarce, but the suspect is on the loose and considered armed and
extremely dangerous.

This is a developing story. We'll update you as new information comes in.

------
eranation
The MIT shooter was one of the marathon bombing terrorists according to CNN if
I got it correctly

<http://bit.ly/11pohgx>

> The search followed a violent night in which authorities say the men
> allegedly hurled explosives at pursuers after killing a university police
> officer, robbing a convenience store and hijacking a car.

> ...Soon after, in Cambridge, across the Charles River from Boston, a
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was fatally shot while
> he sat in his car, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said in
> statement. Police believe the bombing suspects were responsible for the
> shooting.

------
weisser
One marathon suspect has been captured, according to an official with
knowledge of the investigation.

Another remains on the loose in Watertown after a firefight with police.
Authorities have established a 20-block perimeter as they search for him.

Via Boston Globe: [http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/18/mit-police-
offic...](http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/18/mit-police-officer-hit-
gunfire-cambridge-police-dispatcher-says/4UeCClOVeLr8PHLvDa99zK/story.html)

Does this source seem accurate? Remember that the globe AND CNN previously
claimed an arrest in the marathon bombings had been made and it was incredibly
embarrassing.

~~~
pigou
The article has been updated to clarify that this is merely speculative:

> Authorities would not comment on whether the events were connected to
> Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings. At least one of the suspects in Watertown
> appeared to be a man in his 20s.

However, the first paragraph still says basically what it said when you
posted.

> One suspect in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings has been captured

------
weisser
"MIT officer was shot and firearm was stolen. No suspect description, no
direction of flight, happened about 45 minutes ago, was an MIT officer, is at
Mass General now."

Manually transcribed from police scanner:
<http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/6254/web>

------
argonaut
On the police scanner, I'm hearing shots fired, grenades, and explosives. Wow.
This is not going well.

EDIT: And officer down. That's been confirmed again.

EDIT 2: Two suspects down, one sent to hospital.

~~~
mindcrime
"definitely hand grenades and automatic gunfire, and a second officer down".

Holy shit... WTF is going on up there?!?

------
niico
RT @NBCConnecticut: #Breaking : Mass State Police confirm #MIT officer wounded
in shooting has died.

------
tagx
Apparently the shooters carjacked a Mercedes and headed towards Watertown
(~7mi away) and are throwing explosives

Update: One suspect in custody

------
weisser
"All units retreat."

Sounds like there are explosives...

REMEMBER this is a chase that went from MIT to Watertown. This is NOT at
MIT...far away now.

------
dr_doom
Edit again. Much better collection of pics

<https://twitter.com/JoeXu/status/325086354176364545/photo/1>

------
weisser
"The MIT officer, a member of the Cambridge Police Department, died from his
wounds just before midnight."

~~~
pseut
Please link to the source for quotations like that (or cite it if it's not a
webpage).

------
EvanAnderson
They are advising all officers to power down their cell phones for fear of
explosion. This is bad.

They're talking about robots on the scene with "devices". It sounds like there
are some suspicious devices, potentially explosives. Yikes.

------
weisser
1st suspect had explosive object on his person that detonated when he was
caught - possibly what killed him.

They need to be incredibly careful with the 2nd suspect if we want any
conclusive answers to why all of this happened.

------
sohamsankaran
MIT Emergency Update: "MIT Police have determined that the suspect in this
evening’s shooting is no longer on campus. It is now safe to resume normal
activities. Please remain vigilant in the coming hours"

------
alwillis
Possibly related carjacking after the shooting:
<https://twitter.com/NewsBreaker/status/325105581968994306>

------
sGrabber
Another unfortunate incident in Boston. MIT Police is bringing things under
control. MIT has reported one MIT officer killed and have again requested
everyone to be indoors.

Hope Boston becomes normal soon

------
austenallred
Set up <http://fastlane.grasswire.com> to follow it - hopefully the aggregate
of all social media can be of some help

~~~
film42
I have an exam at 7am tomorrow, please don't crash it again guys. Thanks!!

------
hiddenfeatures
I find it very interesting, that there are such websites. I wonder whether it
works, but I guess that if only one life is saved by a notice on a website,
that is enough

~~~
aaron695
Well if you truly meant one life saved fair enough.

So you'd have to deducted the people killed in making sites like these first.
So a web site is possibly $40,000. A humans life in the US is probably worth
around $2,000,000. So it might cost one 50th of a humans life to create a site
like this.

I'd guess not, but the figures are complicated, the site is used for other
things for starters.

I'd suspect a suicide help line would be better money spent. Don't drink and
drive campaigns, healthy eating, quitting smoking help all far better returns
I'd guess.

~~~
lysium
Are you kidding us?

You cannot compare 'human lives' by comparing dollars. And surely, the site
does not "cost" one 50th of "a" human life.

~~~
podperson
Economists figure these things out by looking at how much people value their
own lives (e.g. how much of a salary increase people expect for high risk
jobs). The figures calculated are surprisingly low (IIRC ~$300,000 for an
Australian in the late 90s). You need to do this kind of analysis to do
cost/benefit analysis -- e.g. should we spend money on making a road safer or
building a new hospital?

According to Wikipedia -- $6-7M per life in the US.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life>

~~~
selter01
Not to be a dick, but is an MIT student life valued higher than an average US
citizen? I ask this in terms of average production value.

I wonder if someone would be brave enough to even predict these figures.

------
neghast
Explosives detonated according to the MIT newspaper, The Tech:
<https://www.facebook.com/themittech>

------
orangethirty
Am I crazy or does the person in this photo sort of resemble one of the people
in the marathon suspect pictures released by the FBI?
[http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/759765692....](http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/759765692.jpg)

I was wrong. But news outlets are reporting the people responsible for this
tragedy are the same people suspected for the Boston Marathon bombing.

------
mindcrime
Police are being asked to power down their cellphones to avoid possibly
detonating some explosive devices.

"multiple locations of devices"... Damn.

------
pidge
I'm mapping stuff from the reddit thread here - <http://goo.gl/maps/uz6kt>

Anyone can edit.

------
rexreed
An intense twitter feed on the shootout: <https://twitter.com/akitz>

------
homosaur
I see from the report that they are urging people to stay away from 32
specifically. Can anyone clarify if they have someone trapped inside the
building, or are they just trying to keep people away from the police net?

~~~
emily37
It sounds like the suspect fled in an unknown direction.

------
robot
25 shots fired in Watertown.

[http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/theres-
shoot...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/theres-shooter-
loose-and-officer-down-mit/64379/)

------
TallboyOne
Hope everyone stays safe!

------
bane
[http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/19/us/boston-area-
violence/index....](http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/19/us/boston-area-
violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)

------
suyash
Marathon Bomber's Twitter Account: <https://twitter.com/J_tsar>
#conversationswithothersuspects

------
mindcrime
Sounds like things are still pretty sketchy up there. Lots of shouting about
possibly another active shooter on the loose. Wow, just wow...

------
shloime
Stay safe everyone.

------
tlow
Police scanner warns of "explosive object on his person" for the one suspect
at large 1:33a pst.

------
weisser
Update: Removing info about suspicious MIT package since it has been verified
as harmless.

------
acomjean
cambridge police on twitter. I live here. Its a somewhat automated system, but
the sometime respond to questions.

<https://twitter.com/CambridgePolice>

------
omegant
They are telling that the shooting is related to the marathon bombing.

------
jcfrei
a good police scanner feed from the area:
<http://scanner.wickedlocal.com/metro/cambridge.php>

------
denzil_correa
It seems one suspect (at least) connected to the shootings (as heard on the
BPD scanner) was identified by reddit user yesterday ID'ed the brown male guy
- Sunil Tripathi. Wow!

~~~
scarmig
[deleted]

~~~
denzil_correa
The suspect although brown is a US national brought up in Bryn Mawr, PA.

<https://twitter.com/MichaelSkolnik/status/325144306698567680>

------
spitx
Photo (some gore):

<http://static.dnaindia.com/images/cache/1824279.jpg>

Brief video:

<https://vine.co/v/bUigVwhlIhq>

------
escaped_hn
Boston is not having a good week.

~~~
GabrielF00
FWIW there have been other shootings in Boston since the marathon. They've
just been in places like Dudley Square that the national media don't care
about. At least five people were shot in Boston on Wednesday night.
[http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20130417-night-
bloodshed-t...](http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20130417-night-bloodshed-
two-shot-woodrow-avenue-dorchester.html)

There is something a bit perverse about the disparity in the media attention
given to violence that occurs north of the Mass Pike versus south of the Pike.

------
spitx
Family of missing Brown university student Sunil Tripathi has taken down the
Facebook page dedicated to him.

Source:

[http://gawker.com/5995034/active-shooter-incident-at-mit-
mit...](http://gawker.com/5995034/active-shooter-incident-at-mit-mit-police-
officer-shot)

Cached version of FB page :

[http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=help+us+find+sunil+tripathi...](http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=help+us+find+sunil+tripathi&d=4800958371725771&mkt=en-
US&setlang=en-US&w=nld1_cZ9TIaHOQiAMeSeWxqLMiqIiDje)

Twitter account :

<https://twitter.com/findingsunny>

ABC News segment from March 30, 2013:

[http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/sunil-tripathi-video-
missing...](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/sunil-tripathi-video-missing-ivy-
league-student-case-18845408)

Police scanner identifies the names of Boston marathon suspects.

Suspect 1: Mike Mulugeta

Suspect 2: Sunil Tripathi

Source(s) :

<https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/325141259515752448>

<https://twitter.com/Salon/status/325152165305937920>

<https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/325141840561074176>

UPDATE 1:

Middlesex DA: One suspect ( donning a black hat in previously released FBI
images ) is dead, second suspect is at large, and is believed to be armed and
dangerous.

Source:

<http://twitpic.com/ckd6xd>

UPDATE 2:

Boston PD releases picture of Suspect 2 retrieved earlier from the 7-Eleven
convenience store, possibly the site of the carjacking.

Source:

[https://twitter.com/Boston_Police/status/325161511549009921/...](https://twitter.com/Boston_Police/status/325161511549009921/photo/1)

UPDATE 3:

Home video footage from a street in Watertown where the exchange of gunfire
took place earlier in the night, during which Suspect 1 may have been killed.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSlRHJv1nnA>

UPDATE 4:

Photo of billboard displaying a missing person alert for Sunil Tripathi

[http://riehlworldview.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/04/missing...](http://riehlworldview.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/04/missing-bilboard-for-bad-guy.jpg)

~~~
spitx
UPDATE 6:

    
    
      08.49: The names Sunil or Sunny have been heard on the
      Boston police scanner tonight referring to Suspect No 2,
      the man who is still on the run. Sunil Tripathi, a
      philosophy major at Brown University has been missing for
      a month. Local press reports say that Boston police have
      identified him as a suspect.
    
      Mr Tripathi is described as a left-wing Marxist of 
      Indian Brahmin descent, whose father is a successful
      software developer. His family set up a Twitter account
      and a Facebook page last month to help the search for 
      him. Mr Tripathi was first identified as a suspect in a
      crowdsleuthing exercise on the Reddit website.
    
      The other suspect, who was wearing the black hat, has 
      been named as Mike Mulugeta. He is thought to have died 
      in hospital after a shoot-out with police.
    
      Their identities have not been officially confirmed.
    

Source:

[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article374...](http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/americas/article3743697.ece)

~~~
ajju
"Brahmin"!? His caste is relevant, how, exactly? Only a British (or worse,
Indian) newspaper would find the necessity to point out the caste of some
person being tried by a public mob based on things heard on a police scanner.

~~~
asimov42
I have never read an Indian newspaper making reference to someone's caste
unless it was somewhat related to the story.

~~~
ajju
You are right - Indian newspapers usually refer to it only when it is at least
tangentially relevant - eg. usually they'll refer to some politician's caste.
I consider this to be just as bad because it continues to put caste front and
center as a factor to be considered when evaluating a political.

