The boat that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in looked like "Swiss cheese" after the Boston bombing suspect's shootout with police, the boat's owner told neighbours.

Tsarnaev was taken into custody after a Watertown resident, named locally as David Henneberry, went to check on his boat and found Tsarnaev inside. Swat teams moved in and a gun fight ensued, resulting in Tsarnaev being captured. He is in hospital in a serious condition.

On Saturday, Henneberry was being hailed as the man who helped end a tense 22-hour manhunt, which, until his phone call to police, had been fruitless.

But it came at a cost. The boat – a source of immense pride for the owner, according to local residents – was no longer seaworthy, being, as it was, riddled with bullet holes.

"He said the boat was like Swiss cheese," said one neighbour, who did not want to give her name but lived a few doors down from the boat owner.

The resident said she had spoken to Henneberry on Friday night, after police had taken away the suspect.

"He was shellshocked," she said. She said Henneberry had lifted the cover on his boat and seen Tsarnaev inside before calling authorities.

"He saw that the tarp was open, and that seemed wrong to him, because we've had a pretty harsh winter and the boat had never been undone. He checks on his boat a lot – that's his baby, so that's how he noticed it," she said.

Access was restricted to Franklin Street on Saturday, with police tape blocking off the section of the neighbourhood where Friday's drama played out.

Residents were milling around, intrigued by the small number of television crews who remained on scene.

Images from news teams depicted Tsarnaev sitting up on the side of the boat.

Other pictures showed him receiving medical attention at the scene and with a mask over his mouth in an ambulance.

Rebecca Heavey, 29, lives in the house behind where Tsarnaev was found. Her backyard is adjacent to where the boat was stored. She described the drama as authorities swarmed over her garden to get to Tsarnaev.

"I just saw all the Swat teams in our backyard with their guns drawn," she said. "We were crawling on our elbows through the house, trying to find a safe place. Our doorbell was ringing and we didn't know who it was, we couldn't see the police. We were terrified."

Swat teams used her car for cover, Heavey said, and propped up their guns on the roof.

Heavey said she had ventured out briefly into her backyard on Friday afternoon, breaching the lockdown order to take her dog out for a walk.

"The kid could probably hear us in our backyard from where he was," she said.