Contrary to earlier reports, we now know that missing Brown University undergrad Sunil Tripathi is not a suspect in the Boston marathon bombing. Mike Mulugeta also is no longer being named as a suspect.
The confusion arose after those two were named as bombing suspects early this morning on Boston Police Department scanners.
Those scanner reports were disseminated far and wide on Twitter. The Anonymous tweet above, for example, has been retweeted more than 3,000 times.
Here’s a small sampling of people who tweeted the incorrect names (based on accurate transcription of the information conveyed to officers on the police scanner):
https://twitter.com/SoSirena/status/325146444648570880
Scanner just read the name of a "Mulugeta" DOB: 10/29/91 MASS ID: S60034542
— Adam Rivers (@adamrivers) April 19, 2013
RT @KallMeKG: BPD scanner has identified the names : Suspect 1: Mike Mulugeta Suspect 2: Sunil Tripathi. #Boston #MIT
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) April 19, 2013
https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/325140825455620096
Per police scanner –> Suspect 1: Mike Mulugeta Suspect 2: Sunil Tripathi #BostonBombers
— Chris (@4cchild) April 19, 2013
https://twitter.com/itsmelissabrown/status/325133999439757313
https://twitter.com/AmberGoodhand/status/325146371244060672
BPD scanner has identified Boston Bombing suspects: Mike Mulugeta and Sunil Tripathi: Trying find some backgro… http://t.co/sAWT83WnzZ
— Atlas Shrugs (@atlasshrugs) April 19, 2013
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Scanner is back and suspects have names… Mike Mulugeta and Sunil Tripathi. Hopefully they get #2 soon…
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 19, 2013
They just ID'd the one of the suspects on the scanner. Born in 1991. Mulugeta?
— Hokietapes (@hokietapes) April 19, 2013
https://twitter.com/_skennedy/status/325140898474258432
https://twitter.com/TheInSneider/status/325140675106578433
https://twitter.com/TheMatthewKeys/statuses/325144034899263490
https://twitter.com/TheMatthewKeys/statuses/325141103210807296
The surviving suspect has now been identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. He has not been captured. His brother, identified as 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is reportedly dead.
* * *
Update:
We have clarified this post to indicate that tweeters accurately reported what was said on the Boston P.D. scanner. It remains curious that Boston Police disseminated that specific information so widely to officers.
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