News of the deadly Boston Marathon bombs rocked the nation and celebrities were quick to take to Twitter to offer prayer and condolences in the midst of the chaos. Meanwhile, the image of a “mystery man” standing on top of one of the buildings at the time of the explosions has sparked serious debates and is fueling some of the first conspiracy theories to emerge from Monday’s tragedy.
Twitter and other social media have become a vital part of crisis communication in America, and during a time of chaos and confusion many celebrities did their best to encourage peace and ask for prayer for those impacted by the Boston Marathon explosions.
P. Diddy tweeted “Pray for Boston” and his tweet was immediately retweeted and favorited by many of his followers.
NBA star LeBron James sent condolences while asking the question that immediately went through many of our minds when the news broke.
“Prayers goes out to those involved/hurt in #BostonMarathon,” he tweeted. “WTF is wrong with people man. Just sad.”
Alicia Keys took to Twitter to express she was completely “shaken” by the tragedy.
“Shaken… my thoughts and prayers are with the city of Boston and those affected by this tragedy,” her tweet read.
As for Oprah, she took the time to reflect on the President’s statement about the bombs.
“’All Americans stand with the people of Boston’ Indeed we do Mr. president,” Oprah tweeted.
Nicki Minaj sent out a tweet that emphasized the emotional rollercoaster that most marathon participants dealt with.
“My heart goes out to everyone who woke up this morning to enjoy a peaceful marathon but were met w/ senseless destruction,” she tweeted along with the hashtag “#GodBlessAmerica.”
Tons of other celebrities including Mariah Carey, Kevin Hart, Usher, Janelle Monae, Chris Brown, Deion Sanders, Tyra Banks, and many more tweeted their condolences and encouraged America to realize that now is a time for “#unity” and “#love.”
Meanwhile, social media has played a much bigger role in the tragedy than just allowing celebrities to send out their prayers and messages promoting peace, it also gave way to one of the first major conspiracy theories of the event.
A photo of a mysterious man on top of one of the buildings went viral and had tons of Twitter users wondering if they were looking at one of the people responsible for the explosions.
A photo of an unidentified person standing on the rooftop of a Boston building during the Boston Marathon bombings sparked curiosity on Twitter on Monday, as Americans rushed to social media to try and make sense of the tragedy as it unfolded.
College student Dan Lampariello took the photo after the two explosions that rocked the Boston Marathon. Lampariello was about 200 feet from the finish line when the second explosion went off and the ground shook beneath him, he told ABC News.
In that very same photo the dark image of a man on top of one of the buildings almost goes unnoticed in the smoke and debris.
While the mystery man has not yet been identified and gives no clear indication that he had anything to do with the explosions, Twitter was set ablaze with people sharing their opinions of the mysterious stranger.
Many Twitter users described the photo as “chilling” and one user said it made her “heart skip a beat.”
Others tried to offer rational explanations for who the man might be.
“Mystery Man on Boston roof was probably just tenant on deck of luxury,” one user tweeted.
Many people agreed that perhaps it was a resident of the building or a worker.
Then the question arose of why the man didn’t seem to react to the ground shaking explosions.
In this case, it is important to remember that many runners in the marathon initially thought the ground was shaking from some massive fireworks display. Raw footage of the marathon during the attack reveals some runners jogging along blissfully unaware that a bomb has detonated just feet away from them.
One man even admitted that he didn’t realize anything had gone awry until the second bomb detonated a few seconds later.
While investigators don’t believe the man in the photo is their suspect, they are looking into the photo and hope to identify the mystery man.
Meanwhile, more details of the Boston Marathon tragedy are emerging.
Surgeons at Boston hospitals told televised news conferences on Tuesday that the devices were packed with small pellets and sharp “nail-like” objects that were designed to maim their victims.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, said authorities believe the explosive may have been a “pressure-cooker device,” similar to improvised explosive weapons that have been used against American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Of course, these devices are created all over the world and there is still no clear answer as to whether the attack was domestic or not.
The NY Times reports on even more emerging details:
- Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, said doctors had identified material lodged in a survivor’s leg as a ball bearing.
- The authorities have not announced any arrests, and so far, no one has claimed responsibility as the police conduct what they have said is “a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation.”
- The police also said they were examining footage from nearby security cameras frame by frame as they continue their search for the identity of the person or persons who placed explosive devices near the end of the 26.2-mile course.
