Also on this date
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1897, The first Boston Marathon was held; winner John J. McDermott ran the course in two hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but ultimately futile uprising against Nazi forces.
In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)
In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; about 80 people, including two dozen children and sect leader David Koresh, were killed.
In 1994, a Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.
In 2013, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings, was taken into custody after a manhunt that shut down the city; his older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed earlier in an attempt to escape police.
In 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died a week after suffering a spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while he was handcuffed and shackled. (Six police officers were charged; three were acquitted and the city’s top prosecutor dropped the three remaining cases.)
Ten years ago: Cuba’s Communist Party picked 79-year-old Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother Fidel as first secretary during a key Party Congress.
Five years ago: Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro delivered a valedictory speech to the Communist Party, exhorting party members to help his ideas survive.
One year ago: Canadian authorities fatally shot a man who, over a weekend, had killed 22 people in shootings and fires across central and northern Nova Scotia; Gabriel Wortman had been driving a replica police car during the rampage.