Here's How Tamerlan Tsarnaev Was Killed After A Shootout With Police

A chaotic firefight early this morning on a residential street in Watertown, Mass., resulted in the shooting death of one of the Boston bombing suspects, who reportedly was also run over by a vehicle.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev—the 26-year-old so-called "black-hat suspect"—died after an overnight shootout with police. One witness told NBC News he also saw the suspects toss an explosive in the direction of the cops.

Andrew Kitzenberg, who lives in Watertown, said he saw the two men shooting at six police cars from 70 or 80 yards away.

“There was a long exchange of gunfire,” told NBC News in an interview. He said that he saw the suspects use what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.

“I saw them light this bomb. They threw it towards the officers,” he said. “It created a significant decoy, and there was smoke that covered our entire street.”

The shooting finally stopped, Kitzenberg told NBC News, when Tsarnaev ran toward the officers before falling down. Kitzenberg could not say if Tsarnaev had been shot or was tackled. Tsarnaev was then run over by a vehicle before being taken to a nearby hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, where he later died.

Kitzenberg told that the other man—believed to Tsarnaev's younger brother, Dzhokhar—"got back into the S.U.V., turned it toward officers and 'put the pedal to the metal.' The car 'went right through the cops, broke right through and continued west.'"

Kitzenberg tweeted a pair of photos that show bullet holes inside his home from the gunfire that had been exchanged outside:

NBC News said law enforcement officials told them an improvised explosive device was found attached to Tamerlan Tsarnaev's chest. And the Boston Globe, citing its own law enforcement source, said an explosive trigger was later found on Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body at the morgue.

Update:

Update: Doctors have said that Tamerlan Tsarnaev also had injuries that were indicative of an explosive blast, perhaps from shrapnel. It is not known if those injuries resulted from an explosive device that was on his body.

[ NBC News/ New York Times/ Boston Globe]