With Bombing Suspect Awake, Charges Could Come Soon

Now that the Boston bombing suspect is awake, charges could be coming soon and the Russian-born 19-year-old may face the death penalty.

After a two-day search that started with a rolling gunfight on Thursday night and ended with the remaining surviving suspect caught, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is finally able to communicate with investigators.

The 19-year-old bombing suspect was caught late Friday after police discovered him hiding out underneath a covered boat in Watertown. He was taken into custody, but has been in serious condition at a Boston hospital with a range of injuries, including a possible self-inflicted gunshot to the neck.

Now that the bombing suspect is awake, investigators are trying to determine if he and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan have left any more explosives. Police said they recovered enough weapons and explosives after Friday’s shootout to determine that the Tsarnaev brothers could have planned a second attack in Boston.

“We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene – the explosions, the explosive ordnance that was unexploded and the firepower that they had – that they were going to attack other individuals,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said. “That’s my belief at this point.”

Authorities are also preparing to level charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for Monday’s bombing, which killed three and injured 180, and for Thursday’s shootout which claimed the life of an MIT police officer.

Massachusetts has no death penalty, but Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he hopes federal authorities will press charge so that the bombing suspect can be put to death if convicted.

“I hope that the U.S. attorney takes him on the federal side and throws the book at him,” Menino said on This Week. “These two individuals held this city hostage for five whole days.”

“They should not do that — that’s what these terrorist events want to do, hold the city hostage and stop the economy of the city.”

With the bombing suspect awake, a special interrogation team has begun asking questions related to the bombing.