DD EXCLUSIVE: A CO DONEGAL man has escaped uninjured after the second Boston bomb suspect was captured just yards from his home in Watertown.
Brendan Toye, from Carrigart, was at his home in Franklin Street during the incredible police operation. The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings is in custody after being found hiding in a boat at No67. Brendan lives next door.
Police said they exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, (pictured above) after cornering him next door to Brendan who has lived in Boston for the past 10 years.
His sister Laura told Donegal Daily that Brendan (pictured below) and his family are safe and well. She spoke of how she kept in touch with Brendan by phone – and he was able to give her details of the police operation and capture.
“He’s fine,” Laura told Donegal Daily.
“He is married to American girl Lori and they have a nine month old son. Last time we spoke his real concern was that he had no baby supplies!
“He also was able to tell us on the phone that he could see the man being taken into the ambulance on a stretcher and that he wasn’t dead…
“It was very surreal as we got a lot of the news yesterday before it was reported on TV. Brendan has just moved into the house and my dad was out for a few weeks helping him to renovate.”
Tsarnaev had escaped on foot early on Friday, apparently wounded, after a police shootout that claimed the life of his elder brother, an alleged accomplice.
Three people died and more than 170 were hurt in Monday’s bombings;
“We’ve closed an important chapter in this tragedy,” President Barack Obama said at the conclusion of the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt in the early hours of this morning.
The people of Boston took to the streets in a spontaneous response, to celebrate the capture.
Brendan’s house is immediately to the right of the one pictured below (with the boat).
“It was surreal the way it unfolded,” said Laura, “Brendan phoned and told us the guy was in the boat next door about 10 mins before news reported.
“It’s been a very sad week for the families of all the dead and injured out there.”
Authorities captured the suspect following a tip from Brendan Toye’s neighbour.
He had emerged from his home after a lockdown was lifted and noticed blood near a boat he owns and keeps in his back garden.
Upon opening the tarp covering the boat, the resident found a man covered in blood in the stern and called police.
Bomb-squad vans and ambulances surrounded the house, while helicopters circled overhead.
Officers tossed flash-bang grenades into the boat to disorient the fugitive. He is now being treated in hospital.
Officers are ‘delighted’ to have captured him alive.
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