AN eight-year-old boy waiting at the finish line was among three people killed
and more than 150 injured when two explosions rocked the Boston Marathon.
Tragic Martin Richard was standing with his mother and six-year-old sister,
who both suffered horrific injuries, when bombs hidden in rubbish bins
exploded within seconds of each other.
It was revealed the killer devices were made made of pressure cookers packed
with metal and ball bearings, officials said.
Little Martin may very nearly have cheated death after he walked away from the
finishing line, according to local reports.
But Martin, from Boston’s Dorchester suburb, then returned to his mum – at
which point the first bomb went off.
His mother is in hospital after undergoing brain surgery and his sister had a
leg blown off. His older brother is said to be uninjured.
Friends held a vigil last night at local Tavolo Restaurant for Martin and his
mother and sister, who suffered “grievous” injuries.
America is today on terror alert after the twin bombing attack.
Boston police closed off the city as a “danger zone” as witnesses described
the “unspeakable horror” of body parts flying through the air and shoes that
“still had flesh in them”.
The blasts at 2.50pm local time — flashes of burning orange followed by acrid
smoke that billowed for 50ft — were captured in TV footage that chilled
America. Two more devices were discovered and made safe by police experts.
Ambulances and fire engines swarmed into Boston’s Copley Square along with
armed cops to find the pavements drenched with blood and people lying in
agony.
Some victims needed to have limbs amputated following the atrocity — six days
before the London Marathon.
Aerial footage of the blast site showed the pavement strewn with blood, glass
and debris the blasts, ten seconds apart, erupted from litter bins.
Hospitals reported at least 144 people are being treated, at least 17 of them
in critical condition and 25 in serious condition. At least eight of the
patients are children.
Doctors are “pulling ball bearings out of people in the emergency room”
an expert said, suggesting the bombs were designed to propel shrapnel.
According to one police officer, at least 25 to 30 people have at least one
leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing.
Two brothers each lost a leg from the knee down in the blast after going to
watch a friend run the marathon.
Their devastated mother Liz Norden, described how her 31-year-old son phoned
her as paramedics rushed him to hospital, saying: “Ma, I’m hurt real bad.”
Speaking from outside the emergency room, Liz added: “I’d never imagined
in my wildest dreams this would ever happen.
“I feel sick. I think I could pass out.”
Last night, around 20 police, federal officials and bomb squad members
searched the apartment of a “person of interest” after witnessing an erratic
driver circling past the State Police barracks a number of times.
The man was pulled over and displayed a “nervous demeanour”, according to a
reported source.
The driver then led police and FBI to a home in the area of Ocean Avenue and
Beach Street, which was then descended upon by Boston Police K-9 units,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Homeland Security
investigations.
There remains a large police presence at the home in the Revere area of
Boston. Sources said it is related to the bombings.
Boston cops took several empty brown paper bags – normally used to store
evidence – into the building and left with them full afterwards.
Last night cops were probing links to gun fanatics furious at curbs following
December’s Sandy Hook school massacre. The marathon had been dedicated to
the 26 shot dead.
It was claimed that police had surveillance video of someone bringing a number
of backpacks to the area.
Investigators warned police to be on the lookout for a “darker-skinned or
black male” with a possible foreign accent in connection with the
attack.
The man was seen with a black backpack and sweatshirt and was trying to get
into a restricted area about five minutes before the first explosion.
It was the first successful attack on US soil since 9/11. A White House
official said the explosions were “clearly an act of terror”.
President Barack Obama said those responsible will “feel the full weight of
justice”.
He added: “The Boston people will say a prayer for Boston tonight. We don’t
know who did this or why.
“But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this.”
A ring of steel was thrown around the White House and anti-terror cops in New
York were deployed to landmarks.
Half a million had lined the marathon route in Boston, Massachusetts — with
the biggest crowds at the finish where men, women and screaming children
were left dazed and bloodied.
Around 25,000 ran in the event, including 374 Brits, on the Patriots’ Day
public holiday event.
More than 130 blast victims were being treated in seven of the city’s
hospitals. At least 15 were said to be in critical condition. One hospital
official described the injuries as like those “from a war zone”.
Boston Children’s Hospital received eight patients injured at the explosion,
including a 2 year-old-boy with a head injury, a 9-year-old girl with leg
trauma who was sent to the operating room and a 12-year-old boy with a femur
fracture. The condition of these children currently is not known.
The FBI said it was leading a “potential terrorism investigation” by the
city’s joint terrorism taskforce into the twin explosions.
PM David Cameron said: “The scenes from Boston are shocking and horrific — my
thoughts are with all those who have been affected.”
British police said they were reviewing security for Sunday’s London Marathon.
Last night chief executive Nick Bitel confirmed that the race would still go
ahead, saying: “We will not be cancelling the event.”
Onlooker John Ross said: “I gave my belt to stop the blood.”
Nightmare scenes were described by local TV girl Jacqueline Bruno — as cops
discovered at least two MORE suspected devices in the shattered city,
detonating one with a controlled explosion.
She said as the US went into nationwide terrorist lockdown: “I saw people’s
legs blown off.
“Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror.”
A third blast was feared to have taken place at the city’s John F Kennedy
Presidential Library and Museum — but cops later believed a fire there was
just a bizarre coincidence.
Brit Abi Griffiths finished just ten minutes before the horror. The runner
said: “It’s scary times here — the sounds of police sirens are echoing
everywhere in Boston.
“It was while I was getting my bag that I heard it go off. The ground shook.”
Shocked engineer Marcus Mumford, 34, from Bristol, said: “It was really loud.
I was just running down that street. Now the bomb squad are all over the
place.”
Officials across America urged citizens via Twitter and Facebook to report
suspicious activity to the police. The bloodbath — four hours into the race
when stragglers were reaching the end — comes just days before the London
Marathon on Sunday. Last night Scotland Yard was reviewing security.
It may also be beefed up for the huge London funeral tomorrow of Baroness
Thatcher.
Relieved chartered surveyor Darren Foy, 40, from Southampton, said: “I
finished in 3½ hours and we were on the bus when it happened.”
Darren — in Boston with his wife Sandra and their two children — said: “It’s
all shocking.”
Canadian Mike Mitchell, from Vancouver, had just crossed the line when he
looked back and saw a “massive explosion”. He described people running and
screaming — saying: “Everybody freaked out.”
Video showed a fireball from one of the blasts rising from behind spectators
and a row of flags.
Witness David Abel said: “I saw the most horrific thing anyone can see —
people with their limbs mangled, their eyes vacant.”
The Boston Marathon is run on the third Monday of April — Patriots’ Day, a
public holiday marking the first battles of the American War of
Independence.
It fuelled fears the outrage may have been the work of al-Qaeda.
But cops were also probing links to gun fanatics furious at curbs following
December’s Sandy Hook school massacre. The marathon had been dedicated to
the 26 shot dead. Families of victims were in a VIP area right next to where
the bombs went off.
Public transport into central Boston was shut down and a no-fly zone imposed
as an emergency medical tent was set up.
Authorities also closed down phone networks across the city in case more bombs
might be detonated remotely.
Marathon runners flocked to hospitals to donate blood as medics carried out at
least ten amputations.
Both bombs were small and initial tests showed no high-grade explosive
material, suggesting they were crude devices.
ARE you in Boston and witness the explosion? Call the newsdesk on 020 7782
4100 or email [email protected]
Terror in America
THE Boston bombing was the first terrorist atrocity on US soil in 12 years:
September 11, 2001: Al-Qaeda hijackers crash jets into World Trade
Center and Pentagon killing almost 3,000 people.
July 27, 1996: Bomb at Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, kills two and
injures 111.
April 19, 1995: Oklahoma City truck bombing kills 168 and injures
nearly 700.