Crowdsourcing is at work in the Boston Marathon bombing case and quickly making progress. Following the FBI’s release this afternoon of pictures of the two bombing suspects, the public is scouring photos and videos from the scene and has tracked down “Suspect 2” apparently leaving the scene of the blast.
New photograph of white capped Suspect #2 found; shown leaving area after explosion. pic.twitter.com/f7MDsz1Ckw
— Loren Coleman (@CryptoLoren) April 19, 2013
RT @jaketapper Hey @FBIPressOffice —-> http://t.co/piYjF9L0Gq || Where's Waldo has suddenly become deadly serious.
— Nicholas Mitchell (@puxxled) April 18, 2013
White hat bro by the building's corner? RT @jaketapper: Hey @FBIPressOffice —-> http://t.co/5vNaZKMNMI
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 18, 2013
Backward baseball cap man. RT @jaketapper: Hey @FBIPressOffice —-> http://t.co/jZfh0yRREN
— Steve Chiotakis (@RadioChio) April 18, 2013
Soon after tweeting that photo, CNN’s Jake Tapper added a caveat — probably not such a bad idea considering CNN’s performance this week.
Big caveats on that, from reddit via @intelwire …. Cc: @FBIPressOffice
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 18, 2013
@jaketapper “The only official photos that should be officially relied on are those you see before you today,” Richard Deslauriers.
— RajS (@pdxraj) April 19, 2013
Again, crowd sourcing = Huge caveats. Lots of mischief makers out there.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 19, 2013
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As Twitchy reported, ghouls had set up fake Boston Marathon fundraising accounts just an hour after the explosion and began circulating bogus photos of the child killed in the blast soon after that.
However the Redditors are already screaming "Photoshop," so super caveats
— ?.?. ?????? (@intelwire) April 18, 2013
Super-super-super caveats.
— ?.?. ?????? (@intelwire) April 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/joshgreenman/statuses/325034803957227520
@joshgreenman Are you saying you think that's confirmed that that's suspect #2? Doesn't seem sure to me.
— Little Australia (@LitThom) April 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/joshgreenman/status/325035353088065537
Tapper’s having second thoughts.
Closer look, it does appear pixilated — photoshopped.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 19, 2013
http://twitter.com/JenniferPreston/statuses/325038828698083328
http://twitter.com/JenniferPreston/statuses/325042060413509632
So, it’s fake after all?
@jaketapper Pixelation can occur during the compression process. That means little. That said, still skeptical
— Jared Keller (@jaredbkeller) April 19, 2013
If someone’s faking photos of the suspect, that’s just sick. Still, it’s encouraging to see so many people coming together to do what they can.
Future cop shows will consist entirely of people sitting in chairs, Tweeting & posting to Reddit.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) April 19, 2013
* * *
Update: That backward cap is turning out to be not so difficult to spot. Sadly, 8-year-old Martin Richard is also clearly visible.
HOLY SHIT! RT@brettc2010 pic of scumbag in white hat,behind what looks like the Richards family along railing.#awful pic.twitter.com/kx89hlDD1B
— Opie Radio podcast (@OpieRadio) April 19, 2013
* * *
Update:
New York Times reporter Ravi Somaiya spoke to the photographer, David Green. Green told Somaiya the photo is legit:
https://twitter.com/ravisomaiya/status/325085484068007938
In an interview late Thursday, Mr. Green, who runs a sportswear company in Florida, confirmed that the picture was genuine, and that the F.B.I. had contacted him and requested a copy. “I have spoken to several agents,” Mr. Green said, “and they have got the photos, they are picking up material from me, and I don’t think there’s any doubt.”
Agents had told him, he said, that his picture was the best they had, because it was taken from a better camera than the others that were posted.
Here’s a note Green posted on his Facebook page:
I have been feeling down since the Boston Marathon bombing because I couldn’t do anything to help the injured victims…until now. Thanks to my friend Jason who pointed out to me that the photo I took right after the second bomb and posted on FB has suspect #2 in the left hand corner of the photo. White baseball cap turned backwards, black sweatshirt, NO BACKPACK right after the bomb went off. Compare to the ones posted by CNN, it is unmistakable. I spoke to the FBI and it is may be the best photo they have at current time!!! One step closer to taking these @!#?#’s down…share as much as you can so that if someone knows this person they can turn them in.
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