the
Jo u r n a l
Wester n Oregon Univer sity’s Weekly student newspaper Since 1923 w w w. w o u . e d u / s t u d e n t / w e s t e r n j o u r n a l
Volume 13 Issue 20
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Photo Courtesy | Michael Reynolds EPA
preview Campus Life Model United Nations Hits the Big Apple See Page 2 The Difference of Yes and No See Page 3
Entertaiment Jurassic Park 3D Spares No Expense See Page 4
Sports Track Kicks Off Their Season See Page 6 Baseball on Pace for Another League Title See Page 7 Memorial for the lives lost in Boston bombings.
Boston Bombings Brother Suspects Charged
FIND US ONLINE
FACEBOOK.COM/WOUJOURNAL @WOUJOURNAL
WOU.EDU/STUDENT/ WESTERNJOURNAL
At ten minutes to three last Monday, April 15, as Boston Marathon runners headed for the finish line, two bomb explosions, separated by mere minutes, changed the outcome of the day, and in a lot of ways, the week for all those in Boston. What started out as another annual celebration of the marathon ended in tragedy as the number of injured began to rise, from 10 to 20, from 50 to 100. By the end of the day 170 attendants, both runners and spectators alike, were announced injured; three had passed away. The aftershocks of the event left many asking, “Who did it?”; a question answered briefly by President Obama with the promise that whoever it was, whatever the reason, they’d, “Feel the full weight of justice.” Boston spent the days following the marathon on lock-down as authorities surveyed the damage and
tried to find answers for the community. However, it wouldn’t be until Thursday, three days after the attacks, that the manhunt would have a face thanks to surveillance videos and photographs of the event. By Friday, the police were tracking the suspects down via a cell-phone left in the first of two stolen vehicles. The suspects, brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were cornered Friday in a showdown between officers that would leave one brother dead and one severely injured. As officers arrested Tamerlan, the older of the two brothers, and recovered an injured comrade, the younger used the carjacked SUV to charge arresting officers and in doing so, killed his brother. As of Monday, April 22, and as reported in numerous sources, charges have been brought against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev according to a statement from the Justice Department.
The only remaining suspect “was charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death,” CNN’s ongoing report of the situation explained. As the events of last week turn towards the upcoming hearings and trial of Tsarnaev, many are still left asking “Why?” and “Who were they?” While it is still unclear as to why the suspects took up arms and attacked the Boston public, much about the family the Tsarnaevs come from has been discussed. In a report by Krit Radia for ABC News from Makhachkala, Dagestan, it is explained that the family background of the brothers is riddled with instability and war. “Sitting at her kitchen table here, the suspects’
aunt, Patemat Sulemanova, recounted from memory a complex family history involving a deportation by Soviet leader Josef Stalin, two Chechen wars, and a severe beating in the United States that ultimately brought the suspects’ father back to this restive region in southern Russia,” the article said. The Tsarnaev family moved around from Kyrgyzstan to Chechnya following the fall of the Soviet union, and then back due to wars in Chechnya. In 2001, the family moved to the United States as refugees, and, in the 10 years that followed, lived through the divorce of the suspect’s parents, and the turn of the older brother towards Radical Islam. In 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was interviewed by the FBI following a prompt from the Russian government. “The request stated that it was based on infor-
mation that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups,” the FBI said in a statement. The interview did not reveal any terrorist activity, however it has struck many as disturbing and unsettling. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student at the University of MassachusettsDartmouth. While more information is looked into regarding the lives of the brothers, their activities leading up to the events of last Monday, and as officials begin to move towards the judicial processing of the remaining brother, Boston continues to highlight its own resilience as it picks up and continues to move forward as a community united by tragedy.
weather forecast
Annie West | News Editor