FBI Adds First Woman To List Of Most Wanted Terrorists

Anonymous / New Jersey State Police via AP

This is an undated picture provided by the New Jersey State Police showing Assata Shakur, the former Joanne Chesimard, added Thursday to the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

The FBI put a woman on its list of most wanted terrorists for the first time Thursday — a 1970s black radical who authorities say shot a New Jersey trooper, made a daring daylight escape from prison and fled to Cuba.
The agency and the state also doubled the bounty for her capture to $2 million.
The announcement was the latest turn in the 40-year saga of Joanne Chesimard — also known as Assata Shakur — who was part of the Black Liberation Army and became one of the most notorious fugitives in New Jersey history.
“While we cannot right the wrongs of the past, we can and will continue to pursue justice no matter how long it takes,” said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark office.

In a direct appeal to Chesimard, he said: “Give yourself up, come to America and face justice.”
Chesimard was found guilty of murder in the killing of Trooper Werner Foerster, who was shot dead on May 2, 1973, after stopping her and two associates. The trooper was finished off with his own gun, and the FBI says Chesimard’s gun was found at his side.
She was convicted in 1977 and sent to prison, but she broke out two years later with the help of accomplices from the BLA and the Weather Underground, a left-wing radical organization.
Chesimard lived in safehouses before fleeing to Cuba, where she took the Shakur name and was shielded from the United States by the communist government of Fidel Castro.
She is now 65.
Authorities took note Thursday of the 40th anniversary of the trooper’s killing and said Chesimard’s capture would close a wound for New Jersey state police and prove that they will not give up when one of their own is slain.
Asked whether authorities were encouraging bounty hunters in Cuba, New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said: “I’m not going to get into exact means. What we’re saying is there’s now $2 million for her safe return to New Jersey that’s available.”
In Cuba, Chesimard has mostly disappeared from the public eye. Her story gained prominence again in 1998, when Pope John Paul II made a visit there.
There a television reporter found Chesimard, who claimed she was the victim of a racist prosecution. The governor of New Jersey was furious, and the state police wrote to the pope to ask him to put pressure on Castro to return Chesimard.
But frosty relations between the United States and Cuba have frustrated American efforts to get her back ever since.
Ford said Chesimard “remains an inspiration to the radical, left-wing, anti-government, black separatist movement.” He said there was no specific new threat that led the bureau to add her to the list.
“Some of those people, and the people that espouse those ideas, are still in this country,” he said. “So we’d be naïve not to think that there’s some communication between her and the people she used to run around with.”
Chesimard, who is the step-aunt of late rapper Tupac Shakur, is the 46th person added to the list of most wanted terrorists since President George W. Bush established it after the Sept. 11 attacks. Osama bin Laden was on the list until he was killed in 2011.

'We Got Him!': Boston Bombing Suspect Captured Alive

Residents who have been holed up in their homes, media and law enforcement officials who have been engaged in a day-long manhunt for the at-large suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing let out a cheers after it was confirmed that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been apprehended.

By Pete Williams, Richard Esposito, Michael Isikoff and Tracy Connor, NBC News

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was captured alive but wounded Friday night -- holed up in a boat in a suburban backyard following a bloody rampage that left a cop dead and a daylong manhunt that shut down the city.
The arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and the earlier death of his brother during a firefight with cops, ended five days of terror sowed by the double bombing at the marathon finish line, which killed three people, wounded 176 and left the city of Boston on edge.
"We got him," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted.
"CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won," the Boston Police Department said on its Twitter account.

Cops cheered as the suspect was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., just before 9 p.m. Later, the people of Watertown flooded the streets, cheering every passing police car and armored vehicle in an impromptu parade. Chants of "USA! USA!" broke out. In Boston, people danced in the street outside Fenway Park.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, has been apprehended after a day-long manhunt in a Massachusetts neighborhood. NBC's Brian Williams reports.Police cornered Tsarnaev -- a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin -- around 7 p.m., less than an hour after police lifted a stay-indoors order for the city and its suburbs.  

A resident had gone outside to smoke and noticed a tarp on the boat was flapping, a relative told NBC News. When he went to investigate, he saw what looked like a curled-up person and bloody clothes.  The man "freaked out," ran into the house and called police, the relative said. 

Thermal imaging from helicopters confirmed there was a person in the boat, officials said.

Over the course of two hours, several bursts of gunfire could be heard. The police exchanged fire with Tsarnaev, threw flash-bang grenades designed to disorient him and brought a negotiator to the scene as night fell.

Just before 9 p.m., the wounded Tsarnaev was taken into custody. "He sustained significant blood loss," a law enforcement official at the scene said.
As an ambulance took the suspect to Boston Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital -- where he was in serious condition -- people lining the streets applauded in joy and relief.

“We are so grateful to be here right now, so grateful to able to bring justice and closure to this case,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben said at a briefing. “We’re exhausted, folks, but we have a victory here.”

President Barack Obama praised the outcomes but said many questions -- including a motive for the bombings and whether the brothers had help -- remained.
“Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?” he said from the White House.

But the president declared: “Whatever hateful agenda drove these men to such heinous acts will not, cannot, prevail. Whatever they thought they could achieve, they’ve already failed.”

Tsarnaev will be questioned by a federal team called the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which includes officials of the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department, an Obama administration official said.
His apprehension capped a manhunt that had the city of Boston and its suburbs on total lockdown after the execution of a college campus patrol officer, a carjacking and the death of Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, during a 200-bullet confrontation with cops.

The overnight violence had triggered an extraordinary shutdown of transportation, schools and businesses in Boston and its suburbs, with police warning more than a million people to hunker down behind locked doors while SWAT teams fanned out and bomb squads collected seven homemade explosive devices.
The brothers' bloody last stand began about five hours after the FBI released surveillance photos of two "extremely dangerous" men suspected of planting two bombs near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding 176.

Police are at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, haven't yet entered the building, suspecting it may be booby-trapped. NBC's Ron Allen reports.

Tips about the identity of the suspects were still pouring in when the Tsarnaev brothers fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier, 26, in his vehicle at 10:20 p.m., law enforcement officials said.

The brothers then carjacked a Mercedes SUV, holding the driver captive for a half-hour while they tried to use his cash card to get money from three ATM's, a source said. At the first, they put in the wrong number; at the second, they took out $800 and at the third, they were told they had exceeded the withdrawal limit, the source said.

The carjacking victim was released unharmed at a gas station in Cambridge, sources said. He told police the brothers said they were the marathon bombers and had just killed a campus officer.
As the duo sped in his car toward Watertown, a police chase ensued and they tossed explosive devices out the window, officials said.

There was a long exchange of gunfire, according to Andrew Kitzenberg of Watertown, who took photos of the clash from his window and shared them via social media.
“They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight,” he told NBC News in an interview. “They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.
“I saw them light this bomb. They threw it towards the officers,” he said. “There was smoke that covered our entire street.”

A transit officer, identified as Richard H. Donahue, 33, was seriously injured during the pursuit. Authorities said he underwent surgery at Mount Auburn Hospital.
Kitzenberg said he saw the firefight end when Tamerlan Tsarnaev ran toward the officers and ultimately fell to the ground.

Tamerlan -- the man in the black hat from FBI photos released six hours earlier -- had an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest, law enforcement officials said.

Dzhokhar -- the brother who was wearing a white hat in the surveillance photos from the marathon -- got away when he drove the SUV through a line of police officers at the end of the street, Kitzenberg said.
Law enforcement sources told NBC News that blood found at the scene suggested Dzhokhar may have been wounded in the gun battle.
During the lockdown, subways and buses were shut down, Amtrak service to Boston was cut, and college campuses were closed.

Watertown was the epicenter of the search. Frightened residents were trapped inside as convoys of heavily armed officers and troops arrived by the hour and snipers perched on rooftops and in backyards.
When police finally gave residents the OK to venture outside, some cheered as they stepped outside, only to be swept back inside when shots rang out, and police converged on Tsarnaev's hideout.

An administration official said Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights and could be questioned without them for up to 48 hours under a special legal exception used in cases where public safety is at stake.
NBC News' Jonathan Dienst and Kasie Hunt contributed to this story.

Teen with Terminal Cancer Dies Peacefully After Getting Prom Wish

By Stephen M. Silverman

• Courtesy of Katelyn Norman

Her two-year battle with cancer is over, and 14-year-old Katelyn Norman was granted a peaceful exit.

On Friday morning, a post on her fundraising page read, "Sweet Kate went to be with the Lord at 8:23am. She is now dancing with Jesus! Rest in Peace Katelyn!"

The night before, friend Kristi Buckner shared an update via Katelyn's mother, writing, "The Drs. have sedated Kate. We pray she goes peacefully in her sleep."

During her all-too brief lifetime, Katelyn had earned the love and respect of her hometown, Campbell County, Tenn., which, after her diagnosis with aggressive bone cancer called osteosarcoma, not only worked to make her bucket list come true, but proudly wore green as a sign of community support for her.

Topping Kate's list was a trip to Italy, which sadly did not come to pass. But two other major wishes were granted – to attend her school prom and to ride a motorcycle.

The prom at school was held in her honor this week, with a special gathering simultaneously taking place in her room at Tennessee Children's Hospital. And her motorcycle ride took place some days before, as she rode in the car and the bikers circled around her.

Also on Katelyn's list was to see the band Of Mice & Men in concert and pick up an autographed T-shirt from them. The group's fans responded by flooding the band's Facebook page and Twitter accounts and linking to Katelyn's story, reports ABC News.

Tweeted the band's lead vocalist Austin Carlile earlier this week: "I told her not to be afraid because she wouldn't be alone. My mom is already an angel and would be taking care of her."

In Friday's message, Carlile said, "Heaven gained another angel this morning. #RIPKatelynNorman Her light will never go out. She'll always be in my heart. I promised her that."

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