Watertown Manhunt, 2013
The Watertown Manhunt of April 19, 2013, was a large-scale law enforcement operation conducted across the Boston metropolitan area, centered primarily in the town of Watertown, Massachusetts, in the hours following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Over the course of approximately 20 hours, local, state, and federal authorities pursued Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Marathon bombings, through a series of dramatic confrontations that included a nighttime shootout in the streets of Watertown, a comprehensive daytime lockdown of multiple communities, and a culminating standoff that ended when Tsarnaev was discovered hiding in a boat in a residential backyard. The operation drew national and international attention for the scale of the police response, its effect on civilian life across Greater Boston, and the manner in which it ultimately concluded.
Background and Preceding Events
The events that triggered the manhunt began late on the night of April 18, 2013, following the public release of photographs identifying the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings that had killed three people and wounded hundreds four days earlier. The two suspects — brothers Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev — came to Watertown after hijacking a car in the hours before the manhunt's central confrontation began.[1]
Prior to their arrival in Watertown, the brothers are believed to have shot and killed a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near the Stata Center at approximately 10:30 p.m. on April 18. According to a criminal complaint filed shortly thereafter, the officer was approached from behind and shot multiple times. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities later concluded the killing followed a failed attempt by the suspects to steal the officer's weapon. Shortly after this incident, one of the brothers approached a parked Mercedes-Benz SUV in the Allston neighborhood, climbed inside, and pointed a gun at the driver, reportedly stating that he had been responsible for the Marathon explosions. The driver was forced to travel to another location where the second suspect joined them, effectively resulting in an armed carjacking.[2]
The Watertown Shootout
The sequence of events escalated significantly when the two suspects arrived in Watertown. Late on the night of April 18 into the early morning hours of April 19, the brothers engaged in a shootout with law enforcement officers in the middle of a residential street in Watertown.[3] The suspects were ultimately cornered by police, and over the course of several minutes, the confrontation involved gunfire and explosive devices.[4]
During the shootout, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two brothers, was mortally wounded and subsequently died from his injuries. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev managed to escape the scene, reportedly driving a vehicle through the cordon in a manner that injured additional officers. His escape set the stage for the all-day manhunt that would follow and prompted the unprecedented shelter-in-place order that effectively shut down much of the Boston metropolitan area throughout April 19.
The ferocity and sudden nature of the overnight confrontation placed enormous pressure on the Watertown Police Department, which had not anticipated being at the center of such a response. The department would later face significant financial repercussions as a direct result of the events of that night and the day that followed.[5]
The Daytime Search and Lockdown
Following the escape of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the conclusion of the overnight shootout, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick issued a shelter-in-place directive for residents across a wide swath of communities including Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham, Newton, and Belmont. Public transit, schools, businesses, and major institutions suspended operations. The directive represented an extraordinary measure that effectively placed millions of residents under a voluntary confinement as law enforcement conducted systematic searches.
Throughout the day of April 19, hundreds of law enforcement personnel — including officers from local and state police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and other federal agencies — conducted door-to-door searches through Watertown neighborhoods. Officers moved through streets in tactical formations, entering residences, garages, and outbuildings in search of the suspect, who remained at large and was considered armed and dangerous.
The decision to release photographs of the suspects to the public the previous evening was later identified as a critical turning point in the investigation. Law enforcement officials concluded that making the images public accelerated the identification and confrontation with the brothers, even as it also contributed to a period of intense speculation and, in some cases, the misidentification of uninvolved individuals by members of the public on social media platforms.[6]
The shelter-in-place guidance was lifted during the early evening hours of April 19 after investigators determined that the suspect was no longer believed to be within the original search perimeter. The lifting of the order was a pivotal moment that, unexpectedly, led almost immediately to the discovery of Tsarnaev's location.
Discovery and Capture
Shortly after the shelter-in-place order was lifted, a Watertown resident went to inspect a boat stored in a trailer in the backyard of a residential property on Franklin Street. The resident noticed that the covering of the boat had been disturbed and observed what appeared to be blood nearby. Upon looking inside, the resident discovered a man lying within the boat and immediately contacted authorities.
Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, then 19 years old, was found hiding inside the boat — located just outside the boundary of the area where police had spent the entire day conducting their intensive door-to-door searches.[7] The irony that he had evaded the massive search by remaining in a spot just beyond the search perimeter was noted widely in subsequent reporting.
Law enforcement quickly surrounded the property and a standoff ensued. Negotiations and tactical maneuvers continued over a period of time, during which gunfire was exchanged between officers and Tsarnaev. The situation was further complicated by reports that Tsarnaev may have been armed or booby-trapped. After approximately an hour-long standoff, Tsarnaev was taken into custody alive.[8]
He had eluded police for approximately 17 hours following the early morning gunfight in the streets of Watertown.[9] Following his capture, Tsarnaev was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treatment of injuries he had sustained. News of the capture prompted spontaneous public celebrations in the streets of Watertown and across the Boston area, with crowds gathering outside the hospital and near Fenway Park to mark the end of an extraordinarily tense day.
Law Enforcement Response and Equipment
The Watertown Manhunt drew significant attention to the nature of the law enforcement response and the equipment deployed during both the overnight confrontation and the subsequent search operation. The use of armored vehicles and specialized tactical equipment by local police departments became a topic of discussion in subsequent weeks, as commentators and policymakers examined the militarization of municipal police forces.[10]
The financial cost of the operation to the Watertown Police Department alone was estimated by the town's police chief at approximately $250,000, a figure that reflected overtime pay, equipment use, and logistical expenditures incurred over the course of the manhunt.[11] This figure represented only the costs borne by the municipal department and did not encompass the expenses incurred by the dozens of other agencies that participated in the operation.
The coordination between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the events of April 18–19 was substantial, involving real-time intelligence sharing, tactical command structures, and the rapid mobilization of specialized units. The operation was later studied as a case example in discussions of multi-agency law enforcement coordination in high-pressure urban environments.
Cultural and Artistic Responses
The events of the Watertown Manhunt generated responses across multiple domains of public life, including artistic and creative fields. In 2013, American sound artist Silliam Bims produced a work titled Watertown Manhunt, 2013, a six-minute sound sculpture that formed part of the broader creative and documentary record responding to the events of that week. The recording was subsequently included in international exhibitions relating to networked and multimedia art.[12]
More broadly, the events of the Watertown Manhunt were incorporated into the wider cultural memory of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which itself became a defining moment in the recent history of Boston. Documentaries, books, journalistic accounts, and dramatic productions subsequently explored the events of April 15–19, 2013, tracing the arc from the bombings at the Marathon finish line through the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown.
Aftermath and Legal Proceedings
Following his capture, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged with multiple federal counts in connection with the Marathon bombings and the events of April 18–19. He was subsequently tried in federal court, convicted, and sentenced to death in 2015. His case generated extensive legal discussion regarding the application of the death penalty, the selection of a Boston-area jury, and questions of due process in high-profile terrorism prosecutions.
The events of the Watertown Manhunt also prompted legislative and policy discussions at the local, state, and federal levels regarding surveillance infrastructure, emergency management protocols, and the balance between public safety and civil liberties during major law enforcement operations. The shelter-in-place order, though voluntary in its formal construction, was examined as a precedent for governmental authority during emergency situations in urban settings.
Watertown itself, a mid-sized suburban community adjacent to Cambridge and Boston, became permanently associated with the events of April 2013 in the public consciousness. The intersection where the overnight shootout occurred and the residential street where the boat was found became informal sites of public memory and were visited by residents and journalists in the years following the manhunt.