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BOSTON — Investigators in the Boston Marathon bombing have turned to the public for help solving the case, asking for photos and video taken at the scene and investigating cellphone records of those who were there. Some members of the public are going one step further, though, by starting an investigation of their own.
Days after the bombing that killed three people and injured 176 near the race's finish line, users of social media websites including Reddit and 4chan are going beyond sharing photos with authorities to try to solve the crime with sheer numbers. The subreddit Find Boston Bombers is dedicated to doing just that, as amateur detectives try to find patterns in publicly available photos and videos.
Redditors — those who use the site — have posted photos to the page, identifying features they find suspicious or patterns they notice across photos. One focus is on two men that appear in multiple photos with a backpack that appears to match the remnants of one found at the scene of the explosion.
Trying to crowdsource hypothetical suspects in a crime can be tricky, though, as speculation can target innocent people, quickly spreading from sites like Reddit and 4chan to those with a wider user base, such as Facebook.
One redditor pointed out the appearance of multiple "suspect" photos on Facebook with a plea: "This can't happen."
Another posted a similar picture with a question: "What can we do to discourage this type of behavior?"
One redditor pointed out the appearance of multiple "suspect" photos on Facebook with a plea: "This can't happen."
Not much, based on how quickly photos, videos and rumors spread on social media. the speculation has so far led to multiple viral photos of hypothetical "suspects" being passed around, though none definitively picture suspects police have named.
The backpack found at the scene was largely destroyed in the blast, but enough of it remained that those on social media have pored over photos, tracking down anyone they can find with a similar backpack. One commonly cited individual is a man with a white baseball cap; another is a man wearing a blue robe. Police warn against naming people as suspects before authorities have done so, however.
"The risk is, they could misidentify somebody, disseminate it widely and that person could now be hunted and be the subject of a violent encounter of somebody who thinks they're doing the right thing," said Salt Lake County sheriff Jim Winder.
Winder said instead of uploading the photos to the Internet, they should be sent to law enforcement, who can take action if necessary.
Contributing: Devon Dolan
