Investigators scrambling to solve the fatal bombings at the Boston Marathon want to question a man seen on video as a possible suspect in the attack, two official sources with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday.
The sources identified the person as a man wearing a white baseball cap. One of the sources added that the cap was on backwards and the man was also wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and a black jacket. The second source said investigators have not identified this person.
Two bombs went off Monday afternoon in the final two blocks of the marathon route, killing three people and wounding about 180. News of a possible suspect comes on a day when authorities have made “significant progress” in the case but no arrests, a federal law enforcement source told CNN’s John King.
Sources previously told CNN that a suspect was in custody, but both Boston police and the FBI denied that any arrests had been made.
A Boston law enforcement source told CNN, “We got him,” but wouldn’t clarify whether that meant a suspect has been identified or arrested. Some federal sources said it was even too early to say investigators had identified the suspect, but several sources in Boston told CNN that they have a clear identification.
Speaking on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said investigators were closer to cracking the case “every hour.” But he urged patience with the probe.
“What I would say and I would ask of everyone is we give law enforcement the space to do their work,” Patrick said. “When they are ready with a complete picture, they will tell us what that picture is.”
He added, “I wish they had nailed the perpetrator within minutes of this catastrophe, but I understand from experience it’s going to take some time.”
Earlier Wednesday, investigators revealed more details about the makeup of the bombs, which exploded 12 seconds apart. One had been housed in a pressure cooker hidden inside a backpack, the FBI said in a joint intelligence bulletin. The device also had fragments that may have included nails, BBs and ball bearings, the agency said.
The lid of a pressure cooker thought to be used in the device was found on a rooftop at the scene, a federal law enforcement official with firsthand knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
The second bomb was also housed in a metal container, but it was not clear whether it too was in a pressure cooker, the FBI said.
The U.S. government has warned federal agencies in the past that terrorists could turn pressure cookers into bombs by packing them with explosives and shrapnel and detonating them with blasting caps.