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| Intelligence report identified vulnerability before Boston bombing - Los Angeles Times Posted: 09 May 2013 08:26 AM PDT WASHINGTON -- Five days before two bombs tore through crowds at the Boston Marathon, an intelligence report identified the finish line of the race as an "area of increased vulnerability" and warned Boston police that extremists may use "small scale bombings" to attack spectators and runners at the event. The 18-page report was written by the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, a command center funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security that helps disseminate intelligence information to local police and first responders. The "joint special event assessment" is dated April 10. It notes that at the time there was "no credible, specific information indicating an imminent threat" to the race. FULL COVERAGE: Boston Marathon attack "The FBI has not identified any specific lone offender or extremist group who pose a threat to the Boston marathon," the report reads. Two officials read parts of the report to a Washington Bureau reporter. Since the blasts, the FBI has acknowledged that agents had interviewed one of the suspected bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in 2011 but determined that he did not pose a threat. Customs agents were aware that Tsarnaev had traveled to Russia in 2012, but decided that he didn't require additional questioning when he returned to the U.S. later that year. What was known to the FBI and other agencies before the Boston bombings was being examined by the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday in the first of a series of hearings investigating the attacks. Top police officials in Boston testified to the panel that the FBI never shared with local law enforcement agencies that Tsarnaev had visited Dagestan and that FBI and Russian officials were concerned he and possibly his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, might become radicalized extremists. PHOTOS: Grief, comfort at Boston memorials "We would have liked to have known," said Edward F. Davis III, commissioner of the Boston Police Department. But, he said, "we were not aware of the two brothers, we were not aware of their activities." In fact, Davis testified, it was more than three days after the April 15 bombing, after Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhokhar was on the run, before he learned about the Tsarnaevs. "We didn't look at the brothers until after the shootout," he said. But he said he was uncertain what his local intelligence officers would have made of Tamerlan's 2011 trip to Dagestan, noting that the FBI interviewed him but found nothing suspicious and that Russian officials did not tell the FBI why they were interested him. "We would certainly have looked at the information," Davis said. "We would certainly have talked to the individual." But, he added, "I can't say I would have come to a different conclusion" than the FBI. PHOTOS: Explosions at Boston Marathon Kurt N. Schwartz, Massachusetts undersecretary for homeland security, added that "at no time were we told about the brothers." Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, at one time chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that if the FBI had shared the information on the Tsarnaevs, it "could have prevented all this from happening," referring to the three killed and 260 injured at the marathon. Local communities, he said, "are going to be your first line of defense. So I'd say the fact that neither the FBI nor the Department of Homeland Security notified the local members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force is really a serious and aggravating omission. "Nobody bats 1,000 percent, it's true," he said. "How do you explain it? People are imperfect." House Homeland Security Committee member Peter King (R-N.Y.) agreed, recalling that FBI officials also never told the New York Police Department that they were aware of an unfolding plot to bomb Times Square before an arrest was made there. "The failure to share information is absolutely indefensible," King said. PHOTOS: Boston bombing suspects |
| Michelle Knight told cops Ariel Castro threatened to kill her if Amanda Berry's ... - CBS News Posted: 09 May 2013 08:23 AM PDT Updated at 11:03 a.m. ET Michelle Knight, one of three women Ariel Castro is accused of holding captive for almost a decade in his Cleveland house, has told investigators that Castro forced her to deliver a baby born to one of the other women, and he warned her if the baby were to die, he would kill her. New details on the women's harrowing ordeal were confirmed in a police report obtained Wednesday by CBS News, which corroborated information received earlier from a law enforcement source. Knight told police, according to the report, that Castro impregnated her "at least 5 times," but that each time he would starve her and then punch her in the stomach to induce a miscarriage. Six years ago, however, when Knight's fellow captive Amanda Berry had her daughter in the home, Knight and the third woman being held were forced to help with the delivery. According to the police report, Knight said Castro threatened to kill her if Berry's baby died. Knight told police the newborn girl stopped breathing at one point, so she "breathed for her," giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep her alive. Berry told police that the girl - who was also rescued with the women earlier this week - is Castro's daughter. According to the police report, Berry told investigators that Castro would sometimes leave the house with their daughter and that the girl was never told the other women's real names in case she were to repeat them in public and raise suspicion. Gina DeJesus, the third woman held at the home, told police she was raped by Castro but doesn't believe she ever became pregnant. Knight, 32, DeJesus, 23, Berry, 27, and the now-6-year-old girl were rescued from Castro's house on Monday after Berry escaped with the help of a neighbor and called 911. Berry was able to escape, according to the police report and the law enforcement source, because Castro forgot to lock the main front door in his haste to get something to eat. Instead, he locked only a screen door. He was arrested at a nearby McDonald's. Berry and DeJesus returned to their homes Wednesday for the first time since Castro alleged offered them rides and kidnapped them. Berry told police that none of the women had received any medical treatment during their captivity. Knight remained hospitalized Thursday morning. Castro, 52, appeared in a Cleveland courtroom Thursday where a judge ordered him held on $8 million bond. He's been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. His brothers, Onil, 50, and Pedro, 54, were also arrested Monday but Cleveland City Prosecutor Victor Perez has said there was no evidence to charge them with a crime. According to a law enforcement source, Castro allegedly confessed years ago in writing to taking the three women and said that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports. Castro apparently contemplated committing suicide in the lengthy, handwritten note discovered in his house. According to the source, Castro wrote about his whole life, saying that he was abused by his parents as a child and that he was raped by an uncle. Castro also provided details about taking each of his alleged victims, who went missing in their teens and early 20s. The note was discovered by FBI agents searching his house this week. Investigators inferred from the 2004-dated note that Castro was going to commit suicide. He asked in the note that all of his money be provided to each of his victims. |
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