A victim of the Boston bombings Monday with some of the most graphic wounds caught on photograph reportedly woke up in a drugged haze after surgery and in recovery, saw the FBI's pictures of the two suspects that had been released and said one of them "looked right at me."
An emergency responder and volunteers, including Carlos Arredondo in the cowboy hat, push Jeff Bauman in a wheel chair after he was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. This image was cropped due to its graphic nature. At least three people were killed, including an 8-year-old boy, and more than 170 were wounded when two bombs blew up seconds apart. (Photo: AP/Charles Krupa)
The brother of Jeff Bauman, who had both legs amputated below the knee, said in an interview, according to Bloomberg, that the 27-year-old was waiting for his girlfriend to finish the race when he claims to have seen one of the suspects, wearing a black jacket, a cap and sunglasses. He dropped a bag at Bauman's feet.
“He woke up under so much drugs, asked for a paper and pen and wrote, ‘bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,’” Chris Bauman, Jeff's brother, said Thursday in an interview.
Chris Bauman is later reported as saying he has been alone with his brother "many times" when he had told him "every single detail."
As of Thursday just before 11 p.m. EST, gunshots were fired on MIT's campus and some officials confirmed the death of one of the suspects in Watertown, Massachusetts, while Friday the other remains at large. An MIT police officer was killed in on campus. Boston suburbs are on lockdown Friday morning as a safety precaution.
"Suspect #2" is said to still be at large. (Photo: FBI)
"Suspect #1" or the "black hat suspect" is reported to have been killed on MIT's campus in a shootout Thursday night. (Photo: FBI)
Bauman was pictured being rushed from the scene in a wheelchair after the bombings near the finish line just before 3 p.m. April 15. The cowboy hat-wearing man helping rescue him was soon thereafter deemed a hero who helped other victims, and is also the father of a fallen soldier and peace activist who was watching the marathon for those running in honor of his sons.
Bauman's father said on his Facebook page that his son had to have both lower limbs removed at Boston Medical Center because of extensive vascular and bone damage. He said his son also had to have another surgery because of fluid in his abdomen.
Here's more from Bloomberg about how the Bauman family found out about Jeff's condition:
It would take hours before the Bauman family knew what had happened to Jeff. They learned about it the way much of the world did: the grisly image on television of their son being wheeled from the scene, his lower legs destroyed.Erika Schneider, Bauman’s sister, saw it first. “She called my mom, freaking out,” Chris said. Chris was working at a McDonald’s near their home in Concord, New Hampshire, when his mother called him.
“Chris, you have to sprint home,” she said. “Something’s happened.”
Bauman's girlfriend was not hurt in the blast. But the victim's father said his son was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
(H/T: Daily Mail)
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
