Bomb suspect images: Police have identified, using video from before the Boston Marathon explosions, people they want to speak with that may have been involved in the bombings.
UPDATE 4/18/13, 5:35pm
FBI released videos and photos of the suspects. See video below. See photos here:
Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told a Congressional committee on April 18 that the authorities have picked out individuals spotted in video footage they would like to speak with.
“We have been collecting video from a variety of sources, as you might imagine, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon,” she said, according to the New York Times. “There’s lots and lots of video. There is some video that has raised the question of those that the F.B.I. would like to speak with. I wouldn’t characterize them as suspects under the technical term. But we need the public’s help in locating these individuals.”
Federal authorities, who are working with local police on the investigation, have asked the public to send images and video from the Boston Marathon, trying to glean leads. Images of parts of the bombs emerged on April 16, along with the likelihood that the bombs were being carried in dark-colored nylon bags or backpacks.
City Council President Stephen Murphy said on April 17 that investigators had seen a man on department store surveillance video dropping off a bag near the finish line and then walking away.
An official told the Boston Globe, on the condition of anonymity, that two suspects are seen in clear images authorities have. Keeping in mind that multiple officials who have kept anonymity have been wrong about developments, such as that a suspect was detained, the official said the images will be released to the public later today.
Investigators had reportedly detained a suspect on April 17, but officials came out later and dismissed reports that they had.
“Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate,” a statement from the FBI reads. “Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.”
The FBI have been working on developing a facial recognition program, and if they can find a facial image of the right quality, they can use it to search through a database of about 12 million people who have been arrested before.
If there isn’t a image or one of poor quality, the task of sifting through video and images remains a manual and lengthy task.
The agency could, if able to get an image or multiple images of a suspect or suspects, program cameras at airports and elsewhere to alert them if someone resembling a suspect is seen, according to Al Shipp, chief executive of 3VR Inc., a company that sells video analytics software.
Investigators have been asking the public to email “visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston marathon route and elsewhere,” to [email protected].
“No piece of information or detail is too small,” according to the FBI’s website.
Agency officials and other investigators are giving an update on the investigation at 5 p.m. today at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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