Policy

Tsarnaev Alive and in Custody

"Alive, conscious, captured."

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WATERTOWN — One of the men believed to be responsible for placing the bombs that struck the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing 3 and injuring more than 170, has been taken into custody after a standoff lasting nearly two hours in Watertown.

Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge was apprehended shortly before 8:45 p.m.

"They got him. He's in custody," a state trooper told the media gathered in the neighborhood. A crowd of onlookers broke into applause.

Tsarnaev had been hiding in a boat in the backyard of a home in Watertown, just outside the city. He was rushed to a local hospital. Police had approached him cautiously, worried that he might be wearing a suicide bomb vest.

"We got him," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino tweeted immediately aftewards. He took to the police radio to thank officers personally, telling them, "Good job, guys!"

A state official said that the suspect was "alive, conscious, captured."