The elite SWAT team that in 2013 captured Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as the world watched — after brother Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police — is set to be disbanded.

As reported by Fox News, former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told “Fox and Friends” he’s worried about how the elimination of the highly-trained team will impact the fight against counterterrorism.

“The thing I worry about is the special expertise that these officers have in the SWAT team. They got set up a special training facility while I was the commissioner to do entries into subway cars, the ‘T’ as we call it here.

So they did have the ability and the knowledge of the underground systems that the other SWAT teams now are going to have to get up on to do the job properly so it does affect operations.”

SWAT team that caught Boston Marathon bomber disbanded
Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis weighs in on the decision. https://t.co/UyxZqLebVm

— William B. (@willbarrett_1) August 4, 2020

As noted by Fox, the famed SWAT team has not been used in recent years and has been reduced to five or six officers. The decision to disband the team, Fox said, came “after careful consideration of the use of Transit Police Department’s (TPD) resources, as Boston 25 News reported, citing Transit Police’s Superintendent Richard Sullivan.”

Davis, while concerned, said he understands the decision.

“This is a difficult time and there’s a lot of hard decisions that are going to be made so I support the chief’s decision because he has to make the call. But, this is a very well-respected team, a team that has specialized skills.”

“Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade shared his concerns with Davis about the team’s demise, and asked the former police commissioner if the threat of domestic terrorism has diminished in the years since the 2013 bombing that left three people dead and more than 260 injured — 17 of whom lost at least one limb. To the contrary, Davis said.

“No, it has not. If anything, the information I’m getting from sources in high levels of law enforcement is that the domestic terror threat is worse now than it’s ever been.

We certainly have problems on the international front. Domestic terrorism is going up. There’s a lot of unrest in the country. It’s a very difficult time.”

Ironically, as my RedState colleague Kira Davis reported Friday, an appeals court last week overturned Tsarnaev’s death sentence, a decision that has reopened a deep wound in a city still traumatized by the bombing at the finish line of America’s most famous marathon.

But on Sunday, as I reported, Donald Trump tweeted that “the federal government must again seek the death penalty” against the bomber.

Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The court agreed that this “was one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks since the 9/11 atrocities”. Yet the appellate court tossed out the death sentence. So many lives lost….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2020

….and ruined. The Federal Government must again seek the Death Penalty in a do-over of that chapter of the original trial. Our Country cannot let the appellate decision stand. Also, it is ridiculous that this process is taking so long!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2020

Twitterers expressed strong emotions upon hearing the news.

SWAT team that caught #Boston #Marathon bomber disbanded https://t.co/JxxtRzYvd4 pic.twitter.com/rrHiuXm6q1

— Jenkers News (ENG) (@jenkers_en) August 4, 2020

This is insane. “Defunding the police” is a monumental folly that makes America’s streets far more dangerous. https://t.co/fn30KODk2W via @seanhannity

— Nile Gardiner (@NileGardiner) August 4, 2020

Boston abolishes SWAT team that captured Marathon bomber. Meanwhile court overturns (perhaps temporarily) bomber’s death penalty. Can’t use words I want to say how this looks to me. But that’s not important. The question is how it looks to potential terrorists & criminals: Weak. pic.twitter.com/2sGdpcX1i0

— David C. Stolinsky (@DCStolinsky) August 2, 2020

Even “Jordana,” who apparently supports the “Defund the Police” movement, is opposed to disbanding the SWAT team.

Concerning —

The Boston Marathon bombing was one of the worst days of my life. The police need to be defunded, but this team was so important for events like the marathon.https://t.co/XHTki19LLo

— Jordana Lusk for NY City Council (@JordanaLusk) July 30, 2020

I hesitate to pile on Boston city officials who were responsible for putting the famed SWAT team on the chopping block, given that I’m not privy to their comprehensive law enforcement needs, the resources available, nor the options from which they were forced to choose.

That said, I will say that at the very least, the timing of the announcement — given the tossing out of Tsarnaev’s death sentence, not to mention the “peaceful rioting” still occurring on a nightly basis in various cities across the country — was tone-deaf as can be.