US PRESIDENT Barack Obama will travel to Boston tomorrow to take part in an interfaith service in memory of the three people who died in Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Details of the visit have been confirmed as details emerge of those killed in the bombings – including an 8-year-old boy who was cheering on the participants.
Martin Richard and his family were watching runners approach the finish line of the 42-kilometre race on Boylston Street when the first blast occurred.
Martin and his family – his parents, brother and sister – were trying to get over race barriers and onto the street to escape the blast area when the second bomb struck, about 100 yards down the street.
Martin was killed; his sister Jane, 6, lost one of her legs, while their mother Denise underwent surgery for a brain injury. Another child, Henry, was not hurt.
Bill Richard, who issued a brief statement confirming his son’s death yesterday, himself needed to have several ball bearings removed from his leg.
“We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers,” Bill’s statement said. “I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin.”
Another victim, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, was watching the race with her best friend – and was hoping to take photographs of her friend’s boyfriend as he came home from the race. The friend, Karen Rand, suffered a severe leg injury.
Her father William described her as the light of his life, and “a very caring, very loving person,” while her mother Patty admitted to being “heartbroken at the death of our daughter”.
“She had a heart of gold. She was always smiling. You couldn’t ask for a better daughter,” the mother said. “This doesn’t make sense.”
The third person killed was a Chinese graduate student, details of whom have not yet been released.
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