Advertisement

Boston Police seek suspected bomber, suspect image released

By Daniel Uria
The Boston Police Department released a photo of a person possibly connected to an explosion near a police cruiser caused by a propane tank. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the explosion was "clearly" deliberate and asked residents with information on the person in the photograph to contact police. 
 Photo courtesy of Boston Police Department
The Boston Police Department released a photo of a person possibly connected to an explosion near a police cruiser caused by a propane tank. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the explosion was "clearly" deliberate and asked residents with information on the person in the photograph to contact police. Photo courtesy of Boston Police Department

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Police in Boston released an image of a person who may have been responsible for causing an explosion near a police cruiser on Friday.

The Boston Police Department shared an image showing a person dressed in a pink hooded sweatshirt and grey t-shirt who was believed to have been in the area when a police cruiser was damaged by an an explosive device fueled by a propane tank.

Advertisement

"About 8:15 this morning, one of my officers driving by noticed a fire on the side of a cruiser right here on West Broadway, adjacent to the police station," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told the Boston Herald. "When he went out to investigate, the side of the vehicle started to go up in flames. It looked like some type of propane tank. They hopped out. They moved the cruiser out of there quickly, and very shortly after that the tank exploded. Luckily no one was hurt."

Police said the cruiser was parked outside of BPD's South Boston precinct and the propane tank was placed between the vehicle and a green metal bridge between the wall of the bridge on West Broadway.

Advertisement

Boston police also shared an image of dark-colored Toyota potentially belonging to the suspect and encouraged anyone with information about the person in the photograph to contact them. The FBI and the joint terrorism task have joined the investigation.

Evans added that the apparent deliberate nature of the explosion was troubling.

"Clearly, someone set this deliberately to blow up one of our cruisers," he told WCVB. "We heard there were two explosions. It's troubling that anyone would do this."

The vehicle had minimal damage and no one was injured in the explosion. Evans said the officer who moved the cruiser was "shaken up."

"He heard the explosion and then quickly a second one. He was just adjacent to it when it went off," he said.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh expressed both gratitude that no one was injured as well as concern with the timing of the explosion close to the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

"I'm grateful none of the officers were hurt, that no one from the public was hurt. This happened right on the side of the sidewalk," he said. "This is not something we want to see happen any day, but particularly today with the new president coming in. So I'm hoping nothing is connected here and we will see as the day goes on."

Advertisement

Latest Headlines