Patch Employee Detained in Search for Bomb Suspect
Patch Associate Regional Ad Director Al Wilson was detained by police while returning to his home in Watertown on Thursday night. Here, he explains what happened: Q: What were you doing on Thursday night when this all happened? A: I had driven back from a business trip for Patch from Southern New Jersey, returning to Watertown at 9 p.m. I went into my house and had done some work on my computer before going back outside to fetch a suitcase from my car. Two loud explosions suddenly sounded somewhere behind my house. In between explosions was a series of gunshots. There was then perhaps a 10 second gap before 30 to 40 shots were fired in quick succession. Then all was quiet. Q: What did you do next? A: I climbed into the car and instead of going back to the house (toward where the explosion and gunfire seemed to be coming from), I drove the opposite direction in my rental car, turned left on Mt. Auburn from Bailey and away from the scene. I had made it perhaps 200 yards or less on Mt. Auburn when 40 or so state and local police cars came up Mt. Auburn. I slowed and pulled to the right shoulder of the road. All of the police took a right onto a side street in front of my car with lights flashing but no sirens. So many pulled onto the side street that they were lined up as far as you could see. The whole side street was blocked (from top to bottom). In quick succession, all cars shut their lights off. I believe police stayed in these vehicles. Q: You must have been terrified. What did you do next? A: I then pulled away and continued another 100 yards before several more groups of police raced up the road. I estimate they were doing 100 mph-plus and in close proximity to each other. Several police pulled across Mt. Auburn and raced from their vehicles, leaving cars in the road. I pulled over onto a side street to my left (off Mt. Auburn) and parked the car. I sat in car for some time, hearing sirens and straining engines from cars under hard acceleration. Q: At this point did things start to calm down a bit? A: At some point I thought things had been quiet for some time, and I decided to quickly walk the 300 yards or so back to my house. I left the vehicle on the side street and ran along far right side of Mt. Auburn toward my house. I had made it approximately 100 yards or so when […]