Boston transit shut down, nearly 400,000 sheltering in place amid terror hunt

Courtesy of NBC News by Matthew DeLuca:Public transportation in Boston was shut down Friday morning and nearly 400,000 people were being asked to not leave their homes as police searched for the second of two men believed to have been involved in the marathon bombings earlier this week.

The other suspect was shot and killed.

All services on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority were immediately suspended authorities announced and the residents of the city’s western suburbs, including the neighborhoods of Watertown, Allston-Brighton, Cambridge, Belmont and

Newton, were asked to remain in their homes.

All Boston Public School activities were cancelled.

Police searched the Watertown neighborhood door to door on foot and in patrol cars early Friday morning. Residents were asked to call 911 if anyone other than police came to doors in the neighborhood.
People waiting for buses or other transit services should head home and stay there, police said. No vehicular traffic was being allowed in or out of Watertown, where police engaged in a shootout overnight with men armed with explosives.
Designated portions of the MBTA system might open up again later on Friday, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency undersecretary Kurt Schwartz said.

All Amtrak service coming into and departing from Boston’s South Station were delayed as a result of police activity. Amtrak service was suspended between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.

Logan Airport officials told NBC News early Friday morning that the airport was open and operating under heightened security.
Police said at a press conference that all of Norfolk Street in Cambridge had been shut down early on Friday, and media were warned to leave the area.

Businesses were asked to remain closed. Harvard University announced in a statement on its website that it was closed. Classes were cancelled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a campus police officer was shot and killed. Students at Boston

College were told to “remain indoors” and classes were cancelled.

Emerson College tweeted that the school was closed until further notice: “Stay at home and where you are.” Boston University said its police were on patrol on campus. A BU graduate student was among the three killed by the bombing on Monday.
“Search for armed suspect continues in Watertown,” the Boston Police Department tweeted. “Residents reminded to remain indoors. All vehicle traffic suspended.”

Category: General Update, Transit News