Investigators believe that the suspected Boston bombers killed MIT police officer Sean Collier in a failed attempt to steal his gun, The New York Times reports.
Police told the Times that surveillance video from April 18 shows two men, believed to be Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, approaching Collier’s squad car from behind at about 10:30 p.m. and shooting him before attempting to take his gun.
“He had a triple-lock holster, and they could not figure it out,” a law enforcement official told the Times. “There is evidence at the scene to suggest that they were going for his gun.”
Tamerlan, 26, then carjacked a parked Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle, picked up Dzhokhar, 19, went to a Shell gas station (where the carjacking victim fled). The brothers drove into Watertown, Mass., where they “threw at least two small improvised explosive devices” once police located them, according to an affidavit filed Monday.
Tamerlan died in the subsequent gunfight, and a source told ABC that a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic handgun — with the serial number scratched out — was recovered from the scene.
Dzhokhar fled and a day-long manhunt ensued, ending when authorities found the unarmed suspect cowering inside a local man's boat before opening fire and arresting him.
From The Washington Post:
In the immediate aftermath of Tsarnaev’s capture, police officials said he had fired from the boat and he was reported to have been captured with several weapons. There were also reports that the gunshot wound he suffered to the throat might have been an attempt to kill himself as police moved in.
Officials said they will look into why officers fired at the boat, although one offered that the “the fog of war” may have played into it. Dzhokhar was in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds after his capture.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told the Post that it was "a tremendously effective outcome under dire circumstances.”
SEE ALSO: Why The FBI Wasn't Tracking Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Every Move
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