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[nenjin]

I'm just confused why they chose the marathon, four hours into the race. It would have been much more terrifying if it hit earlier. But that's just me.
My personal theory is that it was mostly someone who hated Boston in particular, and probably an individual. If they were not alone, and their hate was more wide spread, then their attacks would be too.
But I don't know. I've lived on the west coast my entire life.

After I saw some video of the first explosion, it made more sense. The explosive was placed behind the crowds, behind the barricades. Detonating later in the race had, to me, the best chance of catching the most people.

Also what Max said.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Also, an individual seems unlikely to me. Too many devices for one person.

Maybe if they were good devices. As already established, this is about as crappy as IEDs get while still being able to kill. From that, whomever did this seems less like a trained operative and more like someone with homicidal rage and a bunch of stuff from a hardware store.

[Scelly9]

From the videos the explosive seems a bit weak as well, lots of flame, and not a ton of force. Probably just gunpowder.

[SalmonGod]

The target still makes no sense to me.  Typically these things try to directly lash out at either a demographic or an organization, and this does neither.  It's just body count of completely random people, only common factor being their presence at this event.  I could understand the date being selected for making a statement against the government or something, but then you'd think they would pick a related target.

[RedKing]

Also, an individual seems unlikely to me. Too many devices for one person.

Maybe if they were good devices. As already established, this is about as crappy as IEDs get while still being able to kill. From that, whomever did this seems less like a trained operative and more like someone with homicidal rage and a bunch of stuff from a hardware store.

Not the manufacture, the placement. It's not easy to sneak an explosive of any appreciable size into a security perimeter. It's damn tough to sneak four of them by yourself without getting caught or one of them being found prematurely.

Not saying it couldn't be a solo job, just not feeling it.

[Max White]

Until better evidence comes in, I'm just subscribing to the nutjob hypothesis.
We don't know the size of these explosive devices, it could have just been one guy leaving tin cans full of gun powder and nails around. Sort of tricky to spot.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The target still makes no sense to me.  Typically these things try to directly lash out at either a demographic or an organization, and this does neither.  It's just body count of completely random people, only common factor being their presence at this event.  I could understand the date being selected for making a statement against the government or something, but then you'd think they would pick a related target.

You could make the argument that the whole of Boston is a related target, considering its role in the revolution.

Not the manufacture, the placement. It's not easy to sneak an explosive of any appreciable size into a security perimeter. It's damn tough to sneak four of them by yourself without getting caught or one of them being found prematurely.

Not saying it couldn't be a solo job, just not feeling it.

This isn't the Secret Service we're talking about here. The area may have had security, but would it be the type of security that is on the lookout for bombs?

If the others were in trashcans like the first, I can easily see then not being found.

[nenjin]

I'm leaning towards the nutjob too. In a way this reminds me of the DC sniper, specifically because of the randomness of the target.

[Brotato]

Here's my crazy conspiracy theory, but what if the purpose wasn't to hurt any specific people, but to cause a large panic distracting all the police in Boston?  In the aftermath of the explosions and during the panic it would've been fairly easy to commit some other crimes like some kind of heist operation.  I know it sounds kind of crazy but it's the best thing I can think of.

[Max White]

Wouldn't it have already made the news?
Its been a few hours now, somebody would have noticed such an event.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Here's my crazy conspiracy theory, but what if the purpose wasn't to hurt any specific people, but to cause a large panic distracting all the police in Boston?  In the aftermath of the explosions and during the panic it would've been fairly easy to commit some other crimes like some kind of heist operation.  I know it sounds kind of crazy but it's the best thing I can think of.

No, not at all. If you want to make a distraction, doing something that will result in half the country and the FBI start trying to find you is the opposite of what you want to do.

[My Name is Immaterial]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/explosions-reported-at-site-of-boston-marathon.html?hp says three dead. Update thread title?
Also, I will now ignore all news of this for the next 12 hours.

[tahujdt]

What I find ironic is that people are saying that the US has grown complacent in the face of terrorism. Really. We have security guards sticking their hands down 6-year-old children's pants, invasive pat-downs, and ridiculous amounts of security already. This was something that nobody could predict or prevent without stripping everybody who came in. Even if you frisked them, it's easy to make a decent bomb from a laptop battery.

[IronyOwl]

What I find ironic is that people are saying that the US has grown complacent in the face of terrorism. Really. We have security guards sticking their hands down 6-year-old children's pants, invasive pat-downs, and ridiculous amounts of security already. This was something that nobody could predict or prevent without stripping everybody who came in. Even if you frisked them, it's easy to make a decent bomb from a laptop battery.

Yeah? Well I can guarantee you those three people wouldn't be dead if they'd just invasively searched every single one of the tens of thousands of people attending that event each year for the past century.

[Bauglir]

What I find ironic is that people are saying that the US has grown complacent in the face of terrorism. Really. We have security guards sticking their hands down 6-year-old children's pants, invasive pat-downs, and ridiculous amounts of security already. This was something that nobody could predict or prevent without stripping everybody who came in. Even if you frisked them, it's easy to make a decent bomb from a laptop battery.

Yeah? Well I can guarantee you those three people wouldn't be dead if they'd just invasively searched every single one of the tens of thousands of people attending that event each year for the past century.

Even that is a lie. All that can be guaranteed is that this is not the particular way in which they would have died.