Police photos reveal Boston bomb suspect’s capture

The dramatic photos show Tsarnaev with a bloodied face and hands. In one photo, the red dot of a sniper rifle’s laser is visible on his forehead.

Massachusetts State Police Sgt Sean Murphy, a police tactical photographer, said he decided to release the images documenting the police manhunt, in response to the portrait of Tsarnaev on an upcoming cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

The cover has caused controversy across the US for its portrayal of the Boston bomb suspect with curls framing his face, in a similar pose to the many celebrities who grace the magazine’s cover.

Sgt Murphy said the picture showing Tsarnaev with shaggy hair and a light beard had glamourised the terror suspect.

“The truth is that glamourising the face of terror is not just insulting to the family members of those killed in the line of duty, 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,” he said in a statement carried by Boston Magazine, which published more than a dozen of his pictures on its website.

“I hope that the people who see these images will know that this was real. It was as real as it gets,” Sgt Murphy added.

“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.”

Photo release unathorised

Massachusetts state police declined to comment on whether Sgt Murphy had been suspended, but spokesman David Procopio said in a statement that the release of the photographs was unauthorised.

This is the real Boston bomber. Not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone. Sgt Sean Murphy

The photos were taken during the manhunt for Tsarnaev, the younger of two brothers accused of killing three people and wounding more than 260 at the Boston Marathon on 15 April by detonating two pressure-cooker bombs.

The elder brother was killed in the hunt.

Last week, Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty in court to all charges in a 30-count indictment. He faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

Courting controversy?

Earlier this week, Boston officials reacted angrily to the portrait of Tsarnaev on the cover of Rolling Stone’s August issue. The magazine’s headline reads: “The bomber: How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster.”

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called the cover “a total disgrace”. Meanwhile chemists and supermarkets have boycotted the magazine, and refused to stock copies of the August issue.

Rolling Stone magazine defended the cover story on the August magazine this week. Editors said that they wanted to show that Tsarnaev looked like anyone else, despite the serious crimes he is accused of.

“The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens,” the Rolling Stone editorial said.