Even though the Tsarnaev brothers made a violent dash from police, allegedly tossing homemade bombs as they fled, police told ABC News they
so far have recovered only a single, semi-automatic handgun from the two men now accused of carrying off the Boston Marathon bombing.
The gun, presumably wielded by the older of the two brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was recovered by police at the shoot-out scene in Watertown, Mass., and is now with the Massachusetts State Police. Sources told ABC News that no guns were recovered from the boat where 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was eventually apprehended after a stand-off with police.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News the gun recovered from the scene of the Tsarnaev brothers' shoot out with police was a Ruger 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. Sources said the gun is in the custody of the Massachusetts State Police lab and that the serial number on the firearm was obliterated.
Investigators have techniques to raise serial numbers after they have been obliterated so they can be read. Investigators would use the serial numbers to conduct urgent traces on the gun to determine where and how it was purchased.