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In this episode, retired agent Kyle Vowinkel reviews how he, as a member of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU), negotiated the peaceful surrender of one of the Boston Marathon bombers.
It’s a powerful, first-hand insider’s perspective of the capture of a violent domestic terrorist responsible, along with his older brother, for killing 3 and injuring 281 others. The bombings took place on April 15, 2013.
Kyle Vowinkel dedicated 33 years of service to his country as an FBI Special Agent, U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate. He served in the FBI for 24 years.
Before his Crisis Negotiation Unit assignment, Kyle served for eight years on the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT).
During his Bureau career, he deployed to over twenty countries, including China, Qatar, Kenya, South Korea, and Peru, and as a tactical operator on HRT on hundreds of high-risk missions domestically as well as overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While a member of the Crisis Negotiation Unit, he negotiated with kidnappers, pirates, and terrorists.
After his assignments on HRT and the CNU, he used his leadership experiences as a supervisor at multiple FBI offices and retired as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) in the Miami Division.
Currently, he is a keynote inspirational speaker at events around the world for companies and institutions such as West Point, Cornell University, Google, California Association of Tactical Officers, Baltimore Hostage Negotiation Seminar, and FBI National Academy events.
He plans to publish a book in the fall of 2024 to share stories from his career. You may contact Kyle via his website – Apex Consulting.
Special Agent (Retired)
Kyle Vowinkel
3/1998 – 7/2022
“I was worried he was shot somewhere. Maybe he couldn’t speak. But if he could give another sound back to me to convey that he was listening, then that would be two-way communication.”—Retired Agent Kyle Vowinkel
The following are articles and photos about the Boston marathon bombing and the negotiation and the surrender of the younger brother:
To learn more about the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, you may also want to listen to these episodes:
250: Richard DesLauriers – Boston Marathon Bombing
247: Michael De La Pena – Polygraph Examiner, Boston Marathon Bombing Associate
It was very interesting to find out how the FBI Negotiated with the Bomber and get him to surrender to Law Enforcement without further bloodshed. Such a stressful job.
I guess, handling the stress is part of the training. Kyle did a great job!