[krcz]

Actually posts containing speculations about Sunil (missing student) were instantaneously deleted (as groundless and potentially harmful) , at least before name appeared on police scanner, at least on r/findbostonbombers. Info was spread somewhere else, because new people constantly were creating ones.

[GHFigs]

before name appeared on police scanner

Is there a recording of this? Because it sounds a lot like it never happened.

[pmorici]

It didn't the student's name was mentioned by a friend of his on Twitter who after looking at the photos released by police said that they thought there was a resemblance between the suspect in the white hat and her friend who had been missing for a month after dropping out of school and becoming depressed. There were several articles about the individual already on the web predating the bombing because the FBI had been contacted by the guy's family to help find him. The name mentioned on Police scanners was a different person also incorrect.

[danso]

No, this happened. A purported classmate of Sunil's had tweeted about the resemblance to Suspect #2 about 14 hours ago:

> @christiiinaaaxo @jaredleesmith @thejman218 Looks just like a kid from my area that went missing exactly a month and has yet to be found.

> I mean maybe it's a total coincidence but I'm more than a little freaked out by the resemblance. #Boston pic.twitter.com/Qsd6rj5v5l

At some point, the Internet ran with her speculation:

> It makes me sad that people are going to the Tripathi family Facebook page and writing nasty things. That was never my intention

And at around 4-5 am, the Boston police scanners said they were looking for Sunil. I remember this because I fell asleep at 5am thinking that this bizarre story involved Sunil and then woke up at 8 learning that two completely different suspects had been identified. From the twitterer:

> So if what I'm hearing is correct, at 3 AM when the police scanners said they had their suspect and it was Sunil, I was wrong.

The tweeter's account is now protected but she hasn't deleted her tweets. I think everyone, including her, has learned a little about making well-intentioned speculation on the Internet. But apparently, even the Boston police had been fooled (at least someone in the BPD was, which is why police scanners should not be taken as gospel)

[GHFigs]

the Boston police scanners said they were looking for Sunil

Did you hear this yourself, or did you read it? That's really what I'm asking. I know many people were listening, but it's hard to tell what people heard first-hand and what people simply re-tweeted.

For my own peace of mind I'm trying to distinguish between two possibilities: a) that the names were not heard on the scanner at all and whole story was either a mirage or an intentional hoax, b) that someone's erroneous tip to the police was mistaken for its own confirmation.

[danso]

This is an excellent point. No I did not hear it myself and would not have been able to tell what was a first-hand account of hearing it from merely retweets/reposts of that information. And whoever originally heard it may have heard chatter that said the names, but not in the context of being actual suspects.

[pekk]

Actually Sunil wasn't the main person who had been accused on Reddit