Boston Red Sox Postpone Game Due to Marathon Bombing Manhunt

The Boston Red Sox have postponed their game on Friday against the Kansas City Royals amidst the manhunt to track down the final suspect in the tragic Boston Marathon bombing.

UPDATE: Friday, Apr. 19, at 11:05 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford

According to the Red Sox' Twitter, Boston will take the field for tomorrow afternoon's scheduled game:

---End of update---

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe initially reported the possibility of this development, logging a statement made by Red Sox Chief Operating Officer Sam Kennedy this morning:

The club's official Twitter page then officially broke the news that the game would be pushed back:

It is still early in the Major League Baseball season, and considering the magnitude of the unfortunate event at the city's renowned race, this decision should further help deflect potential distractions surrounding the investigation.

Boston city officials have taken significant action to clear out any possible pitfalls in the pursuit. An all-encompassing report by Jason Sickles and Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! aggregates the latest information regarding the police's pursuit.

A police chase and shootout late in the evening resulted in the passing of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, one of the bombing suspects. It started when he and his younger brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, reportedly robbed a 7-Eleven store.

The aforementioned shootout led to the senior brother sustaining multiple gunshot wounds and subsequently being brought to the Beth Israel Medical Center, where he passed away shortly thereafter.

City officials have issued a "shelter in place" order for the occupants of Boston while police continue to track down the younger Tsarnaev.

Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben ordered a lockdown of several areas of Boston, including Watertown, which has also been declared a no-fly zone. State governor Deval Patrick took further precautionary measures, ordering a shutdown of all public transit systems around the city.