The Multiplier Effect and the Role of the Photograph in Boston

FBI officials would later say that the decision to release the images of the suspects was made at the highest levels, including Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Director of the FBI Robert S. Mueller III, because the search for the killers had stalled. The release of the images set off a series of events that transpired over the next 26 hours, leaving one police officer and one of the suspects dead, several other officers gravely wounded, and one of the nation’s major cities locked down.