‘We got him,’ Boston mayor says with bombing suspect in custody

WATERTOWN, Mass. — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, was taken into custody Friday after a standoff that capped a fierce day-long manhunt, officials said.

The Boston Police announced “CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody” in a Twitter message.

Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student, was captured after a standoff with police. His brother, Tamerlan, 26, had been killed in hail of bullets when the pair fought with police in the early hours of Friday.

Photos: Manhunt in Boston

Officers at the scene told reporters and residents that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had surrendered, prompting cheers. The Boston Police Department also tweeted: “Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info.”

In their search for the suspects in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing, state and local officials had ordered the region of 1 million people shut down, turning the area into a deserted ghost town. Throughout the day, armored SWAT team members searched house-to-house in Watertown.

Hours after officials lifted the lockdown, gunfire erupted in the suburb.

Police in tactical gear and armor rushed to the neighborhood. An ambulance stood at the ready. Helicopters flew overhead.

After the first flurry of gunshots, perhaps around 30, according to some residents, there was a second volley of at least three bangs, a pause and then two more. Several louder booms sounded.

The brothers were the only suspects identified by authorities in Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the marathon. The twin explosions killed three and left more than 170 wounded.

Hours after officials released photographs and surveillance video of the pair, they were involved in the shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer on Thursday night, police believe. Sean Collier, 26, was killed.

After the confrontation at MIT, the pair hijacked a Mercedes, police said. They released the driver after holding him for about 30 minutes and fled in the stolen car. Police followed.

PHOTOS: Boston bombing suspects

The chase ended about 1 a.m. in Watertown, where officials said the pair threw explosive devices from the car. More than 200 gunshots were exchanged, officials said. A transit police officer, 33-year-old Richard Donohue, was shot and critically wounded, authorities said.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died at a Boston hospital after suffering what doctors said were multiple gunshot wounds.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev fled, touching off the intense Friday manhunt.

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