SUSPECT in Custody!

Today’s post for the letter “S” was originally supposed to be about the wonders of SPRING SKIING at Lake Tahoe that I experienced nearly four decades ago while a student at the University of California, Davis campus. But recent events forced me to choose a subject that hits much closer to home.

In fact, for most of the day last Friday, most people in the Boston area were locked in their homes while police combed a 20-block area in the suburb of Watertown, looking for the teenage Boston Marathon bombing suspect who was still at large after a gun battle the night before with police that left more carnage behind; his older brother and police officer dead, another wounded.

I, too, was locked in my home that day, but for a much more pleasant reason; a friend was coming to make repairs to a crack in our living room wall. And so I kept the TV on and tuned in to CNN to watch for any developments in the case.

There weren’t many to share. Camera coverage of the search limited so as not to give away important tactical information, the reporters spent the day interviewing relatives and friends of the surviving terror suspect. Every time someone stepped up to a microphone, be it an uncle with an apology on his lips for the shame brought on his family and native country by his nephews’ actions or a police official with an update on the case, the speaker was pelted with questions shouted from the listening crowd, a reflection of what so much of the watching world was feeling. We simply wanted to know why the boys had done such a thing. A desperation for answers likewise triggered the determination of those searching for the boy to capture him alive if there was any possibility of doing so.

Eventually I had to turn off the TV to head to the Reds baseball game in downtown Cincinnati, the tickets a birthday gift from one of my sons to his dad. Caught in rush hour traffic made worse by accidents ahead of us on the freeway, I had ample time to check my phone for any news updates. There were none. It wasn’t until we had finally reached the stadium and were headed to our seats that we heard the news that gunfire had erupted once more near the search area. But although I checked my phone repeatedly through the opening innings of the ballgame, I could learn nothing more.

Suddenly the game was interrupted when the scoreboard went black, bearing a message in white letters that told us the second terror suspect had been captured alive and was in police custody. The crowd broke out in instant jubilation, cheering, clapping and chanting, “U-S-A!  U-S-A!” as an image of the American flag suddenly filled the screen.

There are long days yet ahead of us as prosecutors build a case against the boy and he is eventually brought to justice. But that is a ballgame for another day. While our local club lost that night, the regular Friday Fireworks after the game were yet in celebration of a home team victory for a battle-weary USA.

“The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.”
- Boston Police Department