Boston Marathon bombing
2013 terrorist event in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Four hours into the race, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev detonated two homemade pressure cooker bombs containing explosives and steel shrapnel. The bombs were hidden inside two backpacks dropped in the cheering crowds just minutes prior, and remotely detonated near the finish line of the race in central Boston, 14 seconds and 210 yards (190 m) apart. Three people were killed and hundreds were injured, including 12 victims who suffered traumatic limb amputations.
On April 18, 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released images of two suspects in the bombing. The two suspects were later identified as the Tsarnaev brothers. Late on the evening of April 18, the brothers killed an MIT policeman, Sean Collier, in a failed attempt to steal Collier's service pistol, and proceeded to commit a carjacking close by. They engaged in a shootout with police in nearby Watertown, during which two officers were severely injured (one of the officers, Dennis Simmonds, died a year later from his injuries). Dzhokhar was struck in the face by a bullet, and Tamerlan was shot in the limbs and torso several times, followed by Dzhokhar striking him at high speed by the stolen car while attempting to run over police officers. Tamerlan was dragged down the road while stuck under the car, and died in a hospital soon after.
The public source identifies “Boston Marathon bombing” as 2013 terrorist event in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Boston, Marathon and bombing.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Boston Marathon bombing”, the useful work is to connect “2013 terrorist event in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11086137. The Library of Congress control number is sh2014000105. Authority coordinates are 42.350, -71.079. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Boston Marathon bombing”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Boston Marathon bombing primary sources, Boston Marathon bombing archive and Boston research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Boston Marathon bombing”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Boston Marathon bombing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.