06/02/15-Boston,MA. Law enforcement officials lift a knife that they allege was being held by a man, who was under surveillance for terror related issues, who police shot this morning at 4600 Washington St. in Roslindale. Staff photo by Mark Garfinkel
I, like many, was watching one of the morning national news shows when the unthinkable events that would change our nation forever commenced. First, one plane, and then another crashed into the World Trade Center towers. I went in to work my Boston Herald news photography shift shortly thereafter. The updated and ever-changing news reports showed one, if not both of the ill-fated airliners, departed from Boston’s Logan airport. I started toward the airport. It would take me over an hour to get from the Herald’s South End headquarters to Logan as most workers vacated the city at the same time. Cell phone service, due to heavy usage, was barely working in our area. I arrived on top of Logan’s Terminal B parking garage to look down at a quiet airport as other media members arrived. We all noticed when an F15 fighter jet roared overhead. It was at about that time that I received word that Peter West, the father of Herald colleague Matthew West, had been working in one of the WTC towers when the planes hit. Cell service was still very spotty and every once in a while, through the day, I would check in with Matthew and another co-worker/friend Matt Stone to find out any information about Mr. West. We all thought that the heavy confusion of the day and the bad cell service, etc. were the reasons we had not received information on the whereabouts of Mr. West. We are a close bunch at the Herald photography department and as the hours passed, we would contact each other to find any information we could about the West family, so as to not bother them. Peter west, a loving father, husband, brother, uncle and friend, died as he was going about his work on the 104th floor. A loving eulogy by his son Matthew would follow at the New Jersey funeral. Here is a link to the eulogy and to the Peter West memorial website. My photos below show F15 flying over Logan and a state police car guarding an American Airlines plane in the hours after the attacks. They also show one of the first jets to arrive at Logan after the four day closure of the airport. That arriving jet, a DHL cargo jet, is framed by an American flag flying above Winthrop. A few days later there was a very emotional prayer service at City Hall plaza that was attended by many area pilots and flight attendants. God bless to Mr. West and to all the victims of that horrific day. Peace on earth!
Who knew that this SWAT crew from the Transit Police, just hours after these photos were snapped, was going to make one of the biggest arrests in Massachusetts history? Here they are clearing houses on Laurel St. in the early morning hours of April 19.
Peter Reed, a Laurel St. Watertown resident, moves away from his house as police SWAT teams evacuated residents and searched for one of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.
I took a position on a bridge over Route 93N on the Stoneham/Winchester line as what seemed to be 100 police cars escorted the hearse carrying MIT police officer Sean Collier. Here are my photos and please check out the Boston Herald on Sunday for much more information.
Wow. Exhale. What a horrible turn of events, with the death, last night of MIT police officer Sean Collier, just several hours after a healing prayer service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. I photographed the beautiful service as dignitaries and common folks mixed with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. I also photographed the huge search for the lone remaining bomber. My shift started at 2am this morning and lasted until 5pm. I had never imagined that such sights were possible in an American town (Watertown). My photo gallery starts with Li Jing, the devastated roommate of Boston Marathon victim Lingzi Lu, as she receives a warm hug from Sister Olga Yaqob at the service, followed by photos of President Barack Obama. The other photos are of the very tense search, overnight and today, in Watertown. There were many people stopped, some at gunpoint, and later released. There were also evacuation sweeps of homes where residents were escorted out at 5:45am, as heavily armed patrols scoured their street and homes. I snapped these photos on assignment for the Boston Herald. Thank you for viewing.
