What happened at MIT?

[hexola]

Just wondering if there was some special reason they were at MIT?

The officer who was shot - I've seen this referenced as officer "responding to a disturbance" - but also seen it referenced to the 7-11 robbery.

Was there both a robbery and a disturbance?

[elleng]

1. Post here yesterday:

'Just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday, the pair walked up to a parked police car at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Sean Collier, a 26-year-old campus officer, was nearing the end of his 3-to-11 p.m. shift.

A security camera would later show two men approaching the car and speaking to the officer. Abruptly, one of the men was seen pulling a gun and shooting Collier multiple times, including once in the head. Some officers concluded that the shooting was an effort to provoke a larger confrontation with police.

“They were looking to start something,” one official said.

Collier was found in his car by other police and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. By then, the Tsarnaevs had moved on.'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022726401

[morningfog]

2. I don't understand the shooting of this officer.

I mean, I don't understand any of it, but especially this. Why did they do it? WHy draw attention to themselves? THey knew their pictures were going out and they were getting nervous and desperate, but this just started the endgame.

Maybe that was the point, but I can't make sense of it.

[uppityperson]

3. Blaze of glory? I know. I agree, it is mind boggling.

[marions ghost]

4. it doesn't make sense to me either

Maybe the cop recognized them and went to his car to call for help?

And then they took his guns. Cold killers, those kids. I wonder which did the actual killing of the cop.

[moondust]

8. I'll take a guess.

For some reason they walked up to the police car, possibly summoned by a suspicious Officer Collier. "Hey, what are you guys doing over there?" As they got closer, Officer Collier recognized them as the bombing suspects. They immediately saw that he recognized them so they shot him before he could take any action.

Just a guess.

[hexola]

10. If the cop was still in his car - it seems unlikely he summoned them.

Given the situation - I think any cop engaging a person of interest would have a weapon drawn.

[moondust]

15. Maybe not at MIT.

He may have just thought they looked lost or needed some help and yelled out his car window. Then they approached and everything changed. It would be interesting to see the video.

[pinboy3niner]

19. He could have called them over for a routine check, not suspecting anything

Just exercising his duty to be vigilant about people walking around on-campus at night. As moondust said, it could have begun as an innocuous encounter.

[gateley]

17. Suicide by cop? I can't think of any other reason.

I'm wondering if they were surprised their pictures got out there so fast, panicked, and decided to do what they could before it all came to an end one way or another.

[hexola]

5. This source says - the robbery is not related

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/19/7-eleven-robbery-boston/2097915/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29

There was a 7-Eleven robbery in Cambridge last night, but it had nothing to do with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

Margaret Chabris, the director of corporate communication at 7- Eleven, says the surveillance video of the crime was not taken at a 7-Eleven and that the suspect that did rob the 7-Eleven does not look like Tamerlan or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

[lunasun]

6. do you know how this robbery got connected to the bombers? Was this near MIT amd theofficer killed?

i do not get this sequence of events either including why they shot him and why they were there
Thanks OP for bringing this up!

[hexola]

7. Here's two sources saying Dzhokhar did the robbery - with survielence picture.

http://www.pri.org/stories/politics-society/government/one-boston-marathon-suspect-believed-dead-another-subject-of-massive-manhunt-13558.html

The events leading to Friday manhunt started Thursday night about 10:30 p.m. in Cambridge, Mass., state police officials said, when a man believed to be Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev robbed a 7-11. A short time later, the brothers are believed to have shot a police officer at MIT.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/04/boston-bombing-suspects-robbed-7-11-before-shooting-rampage-with-police/

This one actually attributes the image to the 7-11 robbery.

[elleng]

9. I read somewhere 7-11 robbery NOT related to Tsarnaevs,

but for some reason they decided to shoot cop at MIT, then carjack + obtain cash from carowner's ATM card, ride on with the car which was then identified when owner informed cops, hence hot pursuit, shooting of #1, and #2 flees, finally on foot into area around Watertown.

Guys fleeing once i.d.s identified by publicity, so #2 can't stay @ school in dartmouth any longer, they have to flee.

Got it? Watching 'new' mystery show, so not 100% plugged in at the moment.

[hexola]

11. see post #5

[elleng]

12. Right, you got it.

[hexola]

14. The seeming - sudden- need for cash - dosen't jive with a "blaze of glory"

For guys who were living with little visible means of support - perhaps the rug was pulled out from under them?

[elleng]

20. Could be.

Who was paying #2's tuition/room/board? One of the facts someones know, but not us at the moment.

[lunasun]

18. Thanks OK I see now where the theory is

the bombers stopped at 7-11 but someone else robbed the place and that this footage was taken from 7-11 before someone else came in and robbed it.
Wow busy night at that store!

[hexola]

21. Im unclear how far between the 7-11 and site of the cop shooting?

10 minutes between the two events.

I guess its possible that the coincidence of the robbery(police presence) - spooked the bombers, who just happened to be there.

They might not have known about the robbery at all.

[ananda]

13. Think of it this way.

Nothing those killers did was rational.
So it's probably fruitless to try to impute
any logic to their actions.

All I see is fear, hate, and the fight-flight reflex.

[applegrove]

16. I think they were just at 7/11 around the time a robbery took place. When the police looked

at the video of the robbers they came across footage of the two who matched the bombers description. And the hunt was on.

[DrewFlorida]

22. They had a number of explosive devices with them that night, they may have planned...

to plant a bomb on the MIT campus.

[doc03]

23. He lost the election n/t

[RobinA]

24. I'm Wondering

if they had anything to do with the MIT cop. I get the feeling that in the end the story of what happened is going to look a whole lot different than the current story.

I'm also curious about the throwing explosives at the police tale. Time will tell...

[hexola]

25. yeah - not random...personal vendetta or something...?

it sounds like the cop was taken by surprise.

[hexola]

26. Im just picking up on something - they had 2 vehicles.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/04/20/police-suspects-used-carjack-victim-atm-card/6zP1751OwoIegCQhKMqy7L/story.html

Officers knew the stolen car was coming to Watertown because they were tracking its movement through the victim’s cellphone. The suspects took $800 from an ATM in Watertown Square from the victim’s account before an officer spotted the car. The brothers — one in the stolen car, the other in a second car — jumped out of the cars and started shooting at the lone officer even as backup rushed to the scene, said Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau.

[snot]

27. Yeah, and also, what happened at the JFK library, or whatever it is?

[hexola]

28. Another mystery - why didnt they kill the carjacking victim?

This story has some interesting info - and makes it sound like they went to a few different ATMs - before - letting him go (or escape)

http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/21/give-thanks-for-dumb-terrorists/

Then they carjacked a man–who has not been identified but is described as a Caucasian in his 20s–and rode with him in his black Mercedes SUV. According to federal authorities, the Tsarnaevs used the man’s ATM card to withdraw $800 from bank machines in the area. This would explain keeping him alive initially, rather than shooting him and taking his car: The brothers would have needed his ATM pin number to access the cash.

The mystery involves what happened next: The Tsarnaevs either dumped their hostage at a Cambridge gas station, or allowed him to escape, perhaps in the confusion after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was caught trying to shoplift junk food from the gas station’s convenience store. (That would count as another pretty boneheaded move, by the way.) The man was unharmed, though understandably hysterical, and immediately called 911.