Did people loot merchandise from Boston Marathon stalls in wake of explosions? (VIDEO)

Video footage moments after the Boston Marathon bombings appears to show dozens of people grabbing merchandise — which was meant for the exhausted runners who finished the race—  and hauling it off for themselves

In the video, individuals — who are dressed in street clothes and apparently not runners — appear to be grabbing blue and yellow jackets from the cardboard boxes set upon tables near the finish line and calmly walking away. Some of them seem to be stuffing armfuls of jackets into bags, checking sizes  and making exchanges for another.

YouTube and Reddit users have posted footage of the perceived looting while other social media posts argued that these people might be bringing the goods to help the runners who finished the race or the spectators who were injured from the dual blasts.

You be the judge.



The boxes and tent where the jackets were housed near the finish line had apparently been abandoned during confusion in the aftermath of the explosions — which killed three people and injured more than 170.

One user claimed to have been at the scene depicted in the video and said, "they were giving [the jackets] away to comfort the injured."

To some, it may look like there is no rush to get these jackets to anyone but themselves and the scene resembles a leisurely shopping spree at the Lord & Taylor store just across the street.

Hopefully, their motive was lending a helping hand to the injured and not taking home a ghoulish souvenir.