Incident Summary:
04/15/2013: An explosive device consisting of a pressure cooker, nails, BBs, and a detonator fashioned from the remote control of a toy car detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. This was one of two similar bombs that detonated approximately 12 seconds and 100 yards apart. The detonation of the first device, which was located near Marathon Sports, killed spectator Krystle Campbell. Approximately 264 others were wounded in the two attacks. The alleged assailants of the blasts were later identified as Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, brothers who immigrated to the United States from Russia in 2002 and 2003. On April 19, 2013, as part of an attempt to flee the Boston area, the assailants were involved in a shootout with police that resulted in the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested later that evening after he was discovered hiding in a boat that was parked in a Watertown, Massachusetts resident's backyard. Tsarnaev had written a claim of responsibility on the side of the boat. On July 10, 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty to 30 federal counts related to the attack, including one for the use of a weapon of mass destruction. Tsarnaev was ultimately found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to the death penalty on June 24, 2015.
Overview
GTD ID:
201304150001
When:
2013-04-15
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Massachusetts
City:
Boston
Location Details:
The incident occurred on Boylston Street in the Back Bay area of the city.
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Not Applicable |
| Specific Description |
Boston Marathon |
| Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
No |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
| Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Explosives |
Remote Trigger |
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| A remote-controlled pressure-cooker bomb containing nails and BBs was used in the attack |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
| Additional Information |
Casualty numbers for this incident conflict across sources. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Muslim extremists |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Personal claim) |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 132 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
1 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
| Total Number of Injured |
132 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
Unknown |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| "Boston Marathon Terror Attack Fast Facts," CNN Wire, July 11, 2013. |
| "Timeline: The Boston Marathon bombing, manhunt and investigation," CNN Wire, May 2, 2013. |
| "Image of Krystle Campbell will stay with Tsarnaev jurors," The Boston Globe, March 26, 2015. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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