Netflix has released a new documentary that recalls the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013. American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing explores the events surrounding the attack when two terrorists bombed the Boston Marathon’s finish line.
On April 15, 2013 – the Patriots’ Day national holiday – two homemade bombs were placed near the finish line of the race, both of which detonated seconds apart at 2.49 pm. To mark the tenth anniversary of the tragedy, the new three-part docuseries has been built around the tense days that followed the attack, assembling a minute-by-minute recounting of the manhunt from thousands of hours of CCTV, police radio, and cell phone footage.
The series also includes testimony from the police officers, FBI agents, and ordinary citizens whose heroics led to the killers’ capture. Offering historical context, expert insight, and emotional details from those who knew the bombers personally, American Manhunt tells the full story of how the people of Boston came together in their darkest hour to reclaim their city – and the men and women whose lives will never be the same.
READ MORE: How many people died and were injured in the Boston Marathon bombing?
The attack claimed the lives of several victims and injured hundreds more. In the days that followed, law enforcement embarked on a huge manhunt for the perpetrators that culminated in a deadly shoutout.
But who were the Boston Marathon bombers and what happened to them?
Who were the Boston Marathon bombers and what happened to them?
Three days after the bombing, on April 18, the suspects were identified as two Chechen Kyrgyzstani-American brothers, Dzhokhar, 19, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. The brothers had been living in the US for around a decade.
Dzhokhar and his family claimed asylum in the US during a visit in 2002 and he became a naturalised citizen in 2012, while Tamerlan emigrated to the US in 2004. Dzhokhar was a student at the prestigious Dartmouth University at the time of the bombings.
Larry Aaronson, a history teacher at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School – where Dzhokhar was previously enrolled – told CBS that the former student was “a great kid” with “lots of friends.”
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“I know this kid to be compassionate. I know this kid to be forthgoing,” he said. He’s a great athlete, a sportsman, he's never been in trouble. He was just generous, he was compassionate, he was thoughtful.”
Tamerlan had a more troubled life in the US. The once-aspiring boxer reportedly had dreams of representing the US in the Olympics.
One of his former sparring partners told CBS that Tamerlan never felt entirely welcome in the States, telling a photographer who took photos published in 2010: “I don't have a single American friend because I don't understand them.”
The brothers both attended a Mosque in Cambridge, a spokeswoman for which said in a statement that they “never exhibited any violent behavior.” CBS News spoke to a woman whose friend became Tamerlan’s wife and the mother of his child.
She said: “He just seemed like a really normal average guy when we met him and then really started to change. He became very violent toward her and was brainwashing her into converting into Muslim.”
During questioning following the bombings, Dzhokhar said he and his brother were motivated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and were radicalised – at least in part – by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
He added that he was following his older brother’s lead. Tamerlan reportedly took up a more paternal role to his younger brother after their father left the US and moved to Russia.
On April 18, shortly after the brothers were identified, they shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer and engaged in a shootout with police in the Boston suburb of Watertown. Tamerlan was shot several times and was ran over by his younger brother as he escaped in a stolen car.
He died shortly after. After a huge manhunt involving thousands of law enforcement officers, Dzhokhar was found by a Watertown resident hiding in a boat in his back garden.
He was shot before being taken into custody. On April 8, 2015, Dzhokhar was convicted of 30 charges, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and death caused by malicious destruction of property.
Two months later, he was sentenced to death. But in July 2020, the death sentence was voided by the Court of Appeals on the grounds that the trial should not have been held in Boston and that the judge failed to determine how much the potential jurors had been aware of the event during jury selection.
A retrial was ordered with a new jury for the penalty phase of Dzhokhar’s trial. The Supreme Court then reversed this decision in March 2022 and re-imposed the death penalty.
Dzhokhar is currently being held in a maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado.
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