Tragedy strikes during Boston Marathon after explosions result in multiple casualties

It was supposed to be a good sports weekend, the Masters had an excellent finish, the home stretch of the NBA was taking shape, the NFL draft news heating up and even some good MLB games took place. Things turned for the worst as tragic events took place earlier this afternoon when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon at approximately 2:50pm eastern time. According to most major news outlets, 2 people were killed and dozens (as many as 100) have been injured after two explosions went off only seconds apart near the finish line. Authorities rushed to aid of several people, some suffering major injuries that included their limbs being completely detached from their bodies. It’s a horrific event that has left the city of Boston and the country of the United States in shock during what is usually a great event in Boston. This year the marathon drew nearly 27,000 runners, all considered to be at elite levels but it was all marred by such tragic events. A third blast was reported at the JFK Library (about 5 miles away) but as of right now, authorities have confirmed that the library explosion was fire-related and unknown whether it’s related to the two initial blasts or not.

Right now, the Boston Police Department (assuming with the FBI by now) is working all leads and will give news outlets the information as it becomes known. I didn’t want to post any pictures of the actual victims out of respect. The images and video can be found pretty much anywhere online and television by now but do so with caution. Initial pictures of victims looked pretty gruesome and I can’t only imagine what other kind of media has leaked. I’m also reading right now that Boston police officials have found additional devices that they believe are explosives but didn’t detonate for whatever reason. This is obviously an ongoing investigation so I apologize for any information that I might have missed, i’m trying to stick to some of the most concrete details that have been confirmed by authorities. For now all we can do is keep our thoughts and/or prayers with the people and families that have been affected. Hopefully the authorities get all the information that they can and move forward with finding the person(s) responsible.

A couple of numbers to know: 617-635-4500 for families of victims or anyone trying to locate someone; 1800-494-TIPS for anyone with information that might be able to help authorities