New, never-before-seen photos showing the moments before Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture emerged Thursday amid the release of a controversial Rolling Stone cover featuring the 19-year-old.
The photos of Tsarnaev's capture that first appeared on Boston magazine's website showed Tsarnaev covered with what appeared to be blood and a sniper's laser on his head.
The photos were credited to a tactical photographer, Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Sean Murphy.
Murphy and the photos, whose release was not authorized, now are the subjects of an internal Massachusetts State Police investigation, officials said. Murphy's duty status, meaning whether he will remain on full duty, restricted duty or suspension, will be determined next week, pending the outcome of the internal investigation, the state police said.
The release of the previously unseen photos of the night of Tsarnaev's capture, according to Boston magazine, came in response to Rolling Stone magazine's controversial August cover that features Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty last week to 30 counts associated with the bombing. Tsarnaev is accused of working with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to set off a pair of bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three and injuring more than 260 people.
"As a professional law-enforcement officer of 25 years, I believe that the image that was portrayed by Rolling Stone magazine was an insult to any person who has every worn a uniform of any color or any police organization or military branch, and the family members who have ever lost a loved one serving in the line of duty," Murphy told Boston magazine, speaking for himself and not acting as a Massachusetts State Police representative. "The truth is that glamorizing 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.
"I hope that the people who see these images will know that this was real. It was as real as it gets," he said.
