Friendly fire likely injured officer in firefight with Boston Marathon bombers

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/friendly-fire-cop-gun-boston-marathon-bombers

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It’s “highly likely” that a police officer who was critically injured in a dramatic gun battle with the Boston Marathon bombers was struck by friendly fire, a district attorney said on Tuesday.

Middlesex district attorney Marian Ryan, whose office has been investigating the gunfight between officers and Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said whatever wounded Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer Richard Donohue is still embedded in his leg, leaving investigators unable to confirm which gun fired the bullet.

“We don’t know what struck Officer Donohue because it has not been removed,” she said at a news conference. “It is likely that it came from the gun of one of the officers attempting to stop Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, yes.”

But Ryan said the shooting was justified because it was in “self-defense” of officers and people living in the dense residential neighborhood where the gunfight took place.

The bullet that struck Donohue severed a major artery, and he lost most of his blood. He also suffered nerve damage. He returned to work last month.

Ryan’s report follows one conducted by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

That report found that some officers involved in the shooting showed a lack of “weapons discipline”, resulting in dangerous crossfire. But it stopped short of saying Donohue was shot by fellow officers.

The gunfight took place 19 April 2013, in the Boston suburb of Watertown, four days after bombs exploded at the marathon finish line. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

One of the bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed amid the gun battle. His younger brother, Dzhokhar, was eventually captured. He was sentenced last month to death.