Cornered by police, the photos show the 19-year-old in a blood-splattered black jumper, with hands stained red and a sniper’s laser aimed directly at his forehead.
The sobering pictures were released by Sergeant Sean Murphy, a tactical photographer with the Massachusetts state police, in a bid to show the real face of terrorism in reaction to the ‘glamorized’ image of Tsarnaev that graces the cover of Rolling Stone magazine’s controversial new issue.
The officer has now been suspended over his decision to leak the photos, and will find out next week whether or not he will be allowed to keep his job.
Real face of terrorism: Dramatic new images, including the above, have been released showing Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev bruised and bloodied with his hands in the air as he emerges from his final hiding placeMurphy accompanied the Swat teams as they descended on a boat in the backyard of a Watertown home, where Tsarnaev sought refuge following one of the biggest manhunts in U.S. history.
Without prior permission from the Massachusetts state police, Murphy released a collection of his official shots from the April arrest to Boston Magazine, after Rolling Stone’s depiction of the bombing suspect so outraged him, and many others.
He told the magazine, that having been a police officer for 25 years he was personally insulted by Rolling Stone’s decision to portray Tsarnaev as some sort of rock star and that the move could spur on copycat attacks by people who want the same celebrity treatment.
‘The truth is that glamorizing the face of terror is not just insulting to the family members of those killed in the line of duty, (but) it also could be an incentive to those who may be unstable to do something to get their face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine,’ Murphy told Boston Magazine.
He added of his own photos: ‘I hope that the people who see these images will know that this was real. It was as real as it gets. This may have played out as a television show, but this was not a television show.
Outrage: The sobering pictures were released by Sergeant Sean Murphy, a tactical photographer with the Massachusets state police, in a bid to show the real face of terrorism rather than the ‘glamourised’ image of Tsarnaev that graces the cover of Rolling Stone magazine’s controversial new issue
‘Killer’: Murphy released a collection of his official shots of the bombing suspect, pictured, from the April arrest to Boston magazine, after Rolling Stone’s depiction of the teen outraged him, and many others
‘Officer Dick Donohue almost gave his life. Officer Sean Collier did give his life. These were real people, with real lives, with real families. And to have this cover dropped into Boston was hurtful to their memories and their families.’
He went on to explain that photography was very simple and ‘brings us back to the cave.’
‘An image like this on the cover of Rolling Stone … we see it instantly as being wrong. What Rolling Stone did was wrong. This guy is evil. This is the real Boston bomber. Not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.’
Shortly after Murphy released the harrowing shots it emerged that he had been relieved of his duties with the police.
Police arrived at his home last night and removed his gun, badge, handcuffs and other official pieces of equipment.
His status will be reviewed next week, as authorities decide whether he will be allowed to resume his police duties.
Boston Magazine editor John Wolfson tweeted at around 9pm last night: ‘Murphy has been relieved but not yet fired. Duty hearing next week.’
The bloody pictures of Tsarnaev came after the editors of Rolling Stone refused to apologize for using the controversial image on the front of its magazine, despite overwhelmingly negative reactions to the cover of its August 3 issue.
Rolling Stone magazine has failed to apologize over its latest cover which has been accused of glamorizing Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
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