Boston Marathon bombing: Martin Richard's family ripped apart by terror attack
His eight-year-old son is dead, his wife has suffered brain injuries, and his seven-year-old daughter has lost a leg. Bill Richard is a father stricken by grief after his family was nearly destroyed by the Boston marathon bombing. Jon Swaine reports.
9:55PM BST 16 Apr 2013
As he waited at the finish line of the Boston marathon with his beloved family, grinning a toothy smile, Martin Richard was the doe-eyed picture of childish joy.
Moments later, however, this bright and cheerful eight-year-old, who loved playing football and riding his bike, was taken away in a flash of violence that has shattered his household and left a city grieving.
A pressure cooker, packed with explosives and metal, and stuffed into a black duffel bag, blew up from the pavement to where Martin was standing his father Bill, mother Denise, sister Jane, and brother Henry.
The explosion claimed Martin’s life, tore off one of seven-year-old Jane’s legs and delivered a blow to the head that gave Mrs Richard, 43, serious brain injuries.
"No more hurting people," Martin wrote across the top of the page
No person or group has yet claimed responsibility for the atrocity, which killed three people and injured 176, and authorities are yet to establish a motive.
Mr Richard, a 42-year-old neighbourhood activist, spoke of his heartbreak as he lamented the loss of his "dear son".
"We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers," he said in a statement. "I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin."
A candle was burning Tuesday night outside the Richard's home on a quiet street in Dorchester, an affluent suburb of Boston, where a single word had been chalked on to the path by a neighbour: "Peace."
The same slogan was carefully written on a colourful poster drawn by Martin last year in a class at Neighborhood House charter school. "No more hurting people," he wrote across the top of the page.
"They are just the sweetest, greatest kids," Holly Moulton, a teacher at the school, told The Daily Telegraph, choking back tears after laying flowers at their door. "Always so happy and full of life."
Krystle Campbell, 29, who had been watching her boyfriend run the marathon, was named as the second spectator to have been killed in the attacks.
Her father, William, described his daughter, who worked for a restaurant consultancy firm, as a "wonderful, wonderful girl", loved by her friends and family, and always "willing to lend a hand".
"My daughter was the most lovable girl," Mr Campbell told reporters. "She helped everybody and I'm just so shocked right now. We're just devastated."
The third person killed was a Chinese graduate student at Boston University who was watching the race with two friends. One friend was injured in the attack and the other escaped unharmed. Police did not immediately release the name of the student killed.
Of the victims, 17 were in a critical condition in hospital, severely wounded by shrapnel such as nails and ball bearings from the six-litre cookers. Medics said the bombs appeared to have been designed to cause maximum human carnage.
No other victims’ names were released.
As investigators struggled to identify the bombers, President Barack Obama described the attacks as “an act of terror” and promised that Americans would respond “selflessly, compassionately, unafraid”.
Classes have been cancelled this week at Martin’s school, where Mrs Richard, a neighbourhood watch official, worked as a librarian and read books to young pupils in a voice that “brought stories to life”.
Residents of the family’s neighbourhood, once home to president John F Kennedy’s mother, Rose, gazed into the distance from the doorsteps of Civil War-era homes. Several appeared to be holding the hands of their own children a bit tighter.
Betty Delorey recalled Martin hopping over the fence outside his house and clambering up trees. Jane Sherman remembered the eight-year-old heading out to play baseball with the father he adored.
“What a beautiful smile he had,” said Darren McNair, 51, whose son, Tyler, played football with Martin. “I will always remember seeing it from across the field. What a senseless, senseless tragedy.”
Officials from the FBI, police and other law-enforcement agencies were also struggling to make sense of the bombings, as they appealed for witnesses to submit photographs and video footage.
“This was a heinous and cowardly act,” Mr Obama said in remarks delivered at the White House.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor who represents Massachusetts in Washington, said that Boston was a “family in pain” following the attacks.
