Friday, April 19, 2013

How thermal imaging helped catch bomb suspect


By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News


Thermal-imaging devices have been used to seek out pot-growing operations, map Martian geology — and now, to watch the prime suspect in this week's Boston Marathon bombings as he was holed up in his last hiding place.

Authorities said a helicopter equipped with a thermal imager spotted the heat signature of a person inside a tarp-covered boat, sitting in a backyard in Watertown, Mass. Police used the sensors after an area resident reported seeing a trail of blood leading to the boat — and catching a glimpse of a blood-covered body inside. The thermal readings confirmed that there was indeed someone under the tarp, and that the person was still alive.
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"Probably been there all day," a senior police official told NBC News. "He wasn't moving at first. He is now."

After monitoring the body in the boat for more than an hour, police moved in and seized the wounded bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Continue at:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/19/17830076-secret-weapon-how-thermal-imaging-helped-catch-bomb-suspect?lite



 

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