Boston bomb suspect spotted on video, no arrest made

BOSTON - Reuters

Police and investigators work on Boylston Street, near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon, in Boston, April 17. AP photo

Investigators believe they have spotted a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing from security video, a U.S. law enforcement source said on April 17, but no arrest had yet been made.

Police may make an appeal to the public for more information at a news conference scheduled for later on Wednesday, a U.S. government source said.

Earlier, cable news network CNN reported a suspect was in custody, citing Boston and U.S. law enforcement sources, but it later retracted its report.

Three Reuters sources also disputed there had been an arrest. Officials later confirmed the arrest report was inaccurate. 

The suspect in the video had not yet been identified by name, two U.S. government officials said.

"Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in the marathon attack," Boston police said in a statement.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a statement asking the media to "exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting."

Shortly after the false arrest report, security officials at Boston's federal courthouse ordered staff, media and attorneys to evacuate and move at least 100 yards (91.4 meters) away, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene. Bomb-sniffing dogs and fire engines arrived at the courthouse.

The identification of a possible suspect marked the most significant, publicly-disclosed break since Monday's blasts at the Boston Marathon's finish line killed three people and injured 176 others in the worst attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

The bombs killed an 8-year old boy, Martin Richard; a 29-year-old woman, Krystle Campbell, and a Boston University graduate student who was a Chinese citizen. Boston University has identified the student as Lu Lingzi.

The crowded scene in central Boston was recorded by surveillance cameras and media outlets, providing investigators with significant video of the area before and after the two blasts.

Investigators were also searching through thousands of pieces of evidence from cellphone pictures to shrapnel pulled from victims' legs.

Based on the shards of metal, fabric, wires and a battery recovered at the scene, the focus turned to whoever may have placed homemade bombs in pressure cooker pots and taken them in heavy black nylon bags to the finish line of the world-famous race watched by thousands of spectators.