Chronology of events
06.00 (01.00) BREAKING: We have a chaotic scene in Watertown, just outside Boston, where police are engaged in a serious gun battle with two men who are believed to have hijacked a Mercedes in Cambridge earlier on this evening. Officers are reporting coming under sustained fire and that the gunmen are using hand grenades.
06.10 (01.10) This is a completely chaotic scene. Earlier tonight two "Middle-eastern-looking men with guns" hijacked a Mercedes in Cambridge. They drove to a petrol station where the victim of the car jacking was able to escape. Shortly afterwards there were reports of a shooting in Watertown, which suddenly escalated with reports of automatic gunfire and suspects using hand grenades.
06.15 (01.15) It appears that one suspect has been injured and is in an ambulance. I've just spoken to our own Nick Allen who is on the scene in Watertown, as of a few minutes ago there was a suspect face down in the road with armed police training their guns on him. It's chaos and we're not sure what's happening but there has been a major shoot out in Waterown. Here are some of my Tweets from earlier:
06.25 (01.25) I've been listening to the Boston Police Scanner. It sounds like the gun battle is over and both suspects are in custody. It should be stressed: at this stage we don't know if there's any connection between this shoot out and Monday's bombings
06.27 (01.27) It's a very chaotic situation. There are hundreds of officers in Watertown, with confused reports that the second suspect may still be at large.
06.32 (01.32) Police are now saying second suspect is still at large. CNN are running this picture of the man Nick Allen was describing a moment ago. It seems possible this man is not a suspect and was just detained by police as they arrived.
06.37 (01.37) The situation is sounding calmer now but it's still not clear what's going on. Children's Hospital in Boston is in lockdown, according to the scanner, but it sounds like that was a precaution following a false report of shooting there.
06.44 (01.44) Police are saying they do not have a second suspect in custody.
06.45 (01.45) Cannot be stressed enough: we do not now if there's a connection between what's happening in Watertown, the killing of the MIT police officer earlier tonight and the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. We simply don't know.
06.58 (01.58) This picture isn't very clear but a local resident in Watertown says it shows a police car with shot out windows.
07.10 (02.10) Police helicopters are circling overhead but complaining of poor visibility. "It's very soupy," say one pilot.
07.15 (02.15) There are dozens of police officers on the scene backed by FBI and National Guard. Reporters on the scene have been told to power down their mobile phones to avoid accidentally tripping off any possible explosives.
07.30 (02.30) The Boston Globe is reporting that one of the Marathon bomb suspects is in custody, the other remains at large:
07.35 (02.35) At 2am local time, the
FBI released additional photographs of the two Boston marathon suspects. These ones are somewhat clearer and more face-on. When the FBI released last night's photos, the website crashed immediately.
Boston Marathon bombs: live
