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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Police Release Thermal Imaging Video of Suspect’s Capture

The Massachusetts State Police on Sunday released new video showing the final moments of Friday night’s standoff with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, before he was taken into custody.

The three-minute long video, which shows images captured with thermal imaging technology, shows Mr. Tsarnaev hiding under a plastic cover in a boat in at a residence in Watertown, Mass., and, later, a robotic arm attached to a vehicle being used to pull the tarp back.

There is also what appears to be an explosion. Police said they used several “flash-bang” grenades, non-lethal explosive devices used to temporarily disorient the suspect.

After a neighbor reported that a bloody man was hiding in his boat, the police swarmed to the scene and Mr. Tsarnaev initially exchanged gunfire with the police, according to law enforcement officials.

An F.B.I. hostage negotiator, who kept his distance, communicating from the second floor of the nearby home, began talking to Mr. Tsarnaev and eventually convinced him to surrender, according to the Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau.

“A hostage negotiator talked to him for about 25 minutes and talked him into climbing out of the boat,” according to one law enforcement official.

There were several SWAT teams present, but the F.B.I. team initially took him into custody and then allowed members of one of the local police teams to cuff Mr. Tsarnaev, the official said.