Boom

Tsarnaev Bought Mortar Kits in N.H.

Official speculates that suspect extracted explosive powder.

We're guessing these weren't an early Fourth of July present. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder of the two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston marathon, purchased two mortar kits from a fireworks store in New Hampshire in early February, said Phantom Fireworks vice president William Weimer on Tuesday. According to the store's records, Tsarnaev used $200 cash to buy to "Lock and Load" fireworks kits, each of which came with 24 shells. Weimer speculated that Tsarnaev extracted the explosive powder from the shells but "probably came to the conclusion that they couldn’t harvest enough powder to do what they wanted to do with them." A search on Sunday of the dorm room belonging to the younger suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, uncovered a "large pyrotechnic," according to authorities.