Two men identified by law enforcement sources as the Boston Marathon attack suspects — armed with explosives and guns — battled authorities in a Boston suburb early Friday morning, unleashing chaos until cops took one of the men into custody, and the other fled, the sources said.
Officials later said the the suspect taken into custody died.
The standoff in Watertown, Mass., erupted shortly after the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. A transit police officer was also wounded in the Watertown fire fight, officials confirmed to NBC affiliate WHDH.
Referencing the photographs that were released by the FBI Thursday, authorities said the “white-hat” suspect was still on the loose.
Officials in Watertown were warning residents to “stay in their homes and not open their doors unless a police officer is there.”
Watertown resident Andrew Kitzenberg described a police standoff outside his house, where the two suspects and police engaged in gunfire for several minutes.
The gunmen used “bombs that looked like grenades,” Kitzenberg told NBC News.
Kitzenberg said when he looked out the window he saw two people taking cover between a black Mercedes SUV and a sedan, and watched them shooting 70 or 80 yards toward six Watertown police vehicles.
“They engaged in gunfire for a few minutes,” Kitzenberg said. “They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight. They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.”
He said the pair took cover behind the Mercedes SUV and were shooting westward toward the police officers. They also had backpacks.
“It was a firefight,” he added. “There was a long exchange of gunfire.”
One of the shooters then ran toward the officers, while the other got into the SUV, Kitzenberg recounted.
The person on foot later fell to the ground, but Kitzenberg said he was unable to tell whether he had been tackled or shot.
The other drove the SUV through the line of police cars at the end of the street, he added.
Kitzenberg said that while he had a “very clear view of the shooters,” he couldn’t see their faces but described them as “average size, average height.”
During the gun battle, a bullet ended up in the wall of Kitzenberg’s apartment, which is on the second level of a multi-family home.
Rebecca Carbone, 30, stood on the street wearing pajamas and a sweatshirt and had stepped out when she heard sirens.
“We heard a loud blast and we didn’t know what it was,” Carbone said. “It sounded like a car backfiring.”
John Grimes, 69, a retired letter carrier, said that he heard three loud explosions, “and you don’t hear explosions at night a lot.”