Boston Bombings: Second Suspect In Custody

A family has spoken about the terrifying moment they found Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev bloodied and hiding in their back yard.

David Hennebury tipped off the authorities after he noticed blood under a tarpaulin covering his boat at his home in suburban Watertown.

His stepson Robert Duffy said: "As soon as the ban on going out was lifted they went outside and walked around. The wind had picked up and the tarp on the boat had kind of lifted, which he found strange.

"He went over to the boat for a closer look and found a strap that had been cut - not torn or worn through. He was stranged out by it.

"He noticed a small amount of blood in this area and when he went under the tarp he saw a small pool of blood immediately there.

"He looked forward and because the tarp obscured a lot of sunlight, he saw what he believed to be a crumpled body bloodied in the front of the boat.

"He immediately panicked, dropped off the ladder and called 911, and with all of the SWAT and physical police presence right there in that neighbourhood and street, they descended on them and immediately evacuated them.

"So they are safe, that's the most important thing and the suspect has been apprehended."

As officers surrounded the property, a police helicopter used infra-red equipment to confirm there was a human inside the boat.

Dzhokhar, who was already wounded from an earlier shootout, exchanged gunfire with police for an hour while holed up in the vessel.

The dramatic stand-off ended with the 19-year-old being given first aid on the lawn next to the boat before he was taken away in an ambulance at around 8.45pm local time.

Dzhokhar remains in "serious condition" at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital and a specialist interrogation team is waiting to question him.

He had been on the run since his 26-year-old brother and fellow suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev - known as suspect number one - was killed in a shoot-out with police in the early hours of Friday.

The pair hurled a pressure cooker bomb like those used in the marathon blasts at police and Dzhokhar drove over his dying brother to escape the gun battle, Watertown's police chief Edward Devau has revealed.

Devau said two off-duty police were helping four officers who confronted the brothers in the overnight shootout.

"We estimate that over 200 shots were fired over a five-to-10 minute period," Devau said, adding that the brothers also hurled a pressure cooker bomb and other homemade explosives.

"We found a pressure cooker embedded in a car down the street" after it caused "a major explosion during this gunfight," Devau said.

Two homemade grenades exploded and two others failed to go off. Another device was found in an abandoned car, he said.

Devau told how Tamerlan Tsarnaev suddenly emerged "and just starts walking down the street shooting at our police officers."

When the suspected bomber ran out of ammunition, two or three police overpowered him and were trying to handcuff him when the other brother drove the carjacked black Mercedes at them, said the police chief.

"One of them yells 'look out'," said Devau. "They dive out of the way and he runs over his brother and drags him a short distance down the street."

Doctors officially pronounced Tamerlan dead at the hospital where his brother is now being treated.

Devau said police lost Dzhokhar after he drove off amid more gunfire, then dumped the car and ran off into the darkness two or three streets on.

The brothers were believed to be behind Monday's twin explosions at the Boston Marathon which left three people dead and around 180 wounded.

But their Mother Zubeidat said she did not believe they were responsible.

"I am like 100% sure that this is a setup," she said. "My two sons are really innocent and I know that neither of them have never talked about whatever they're saying about now.

"My youngest one was raised from eight years in America and my oldest son he was really properly raised in my house. No-one talked about terrorism."

During their getaway attempt, they killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology policeman Sean Collier and severely wounded another officer, authorities said.

A crowd of residents cheered as Dzhokhar - known as suspect number two - was taken into custody, and the celebrations continued into the night in the city's streets .

Mayor Tom Menino said on Twitter: "We got him".

Boston Police tweeted: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

The family of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who died in the bombings, released a statement praising police.

"Tonight, our family applauds the entire law enforcement community for a job well done, and trust that our justice system will now do its job," the family said.

As Dzhokhar was being captured, three people in New Bedford, Massachusetts, were also taken into custody for questioning over the blasts.

Lieutenant Robert Richard said two men and a woman were being questioned by the FBI "on the assumption there is an affiliation with suspect number two".

It has also been revealed that Tamerlan attracted the attention of US authorities two years ago - apparently after contact from the Russian authorities.

The FBI said its agents interviewed him in 2011 at the request of a foreign government, but that the investigation found "no derogatory information", according to an official.

The brothers' uncle Ruslan Tsarni has claimed Tamerlan was radicalized by an Armenian convert to Islam.

Maret Tsarnaev, the men's aunt, said Tamerlan had recently become a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day.

Speaking to reporters at her home in Toronto, Canada, she also said the older brother was married and had a daughter in the US.