Global Courant 2023-04-15 19:27:16
BOSTON — With a bagpiper playing “The Bells of Dunblane” and a few runners watching, families of the dead in the Boston Marathon bombings marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy early Saturday by slowly walking together to the memorials near the finish line and laying wreaths.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who was making her first run for city council when the bombing occurred, joined the somber procession along with Governor Maura Healey. At each memorial – marked with three stone pillars for the three victims – they stood silently with the families. Later in the day, a short ceremony will take place at the finish of the marathon, where bells will ring followed by a moment of silence.
The 127th edition of the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday.
“The day never lets go of me,” said Jennifer Black, 71, a real estate agent from Loveland, Ohio, who watched the procession talk about how her 2013 race was cut short because of the bombing and spoke of those who died in the attack. She’s back in Boston to walk this year.
“So much loss, so much pain all because of hate,” she continued, tears streaming down her cheeks. “We have to stand up for people. We have to take care of each other and we have to pray for these families every day.”
Jennifer Black at the memorial service for the victims of the marathon bombings.Reba Saldanha/AP
Karen Russell of Boston, standing next to Black, said she felt it was important to witness the procession, especially on the 10th anniversary.
“The families are still suffering, even though we kept going,” Russel said. “A lot of people were hurt that day and that pain will never go away. … I think it’s important to be here to let them know we still care.
Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two pressure cooker bombs went off at the finish line of the marathon. The dead included Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts; and 8-year-old Martin Richard, who had gone to watch the marathon with his family.
Medical personnel help injured people after a bombing at the Boston Marathon finish line in 2013.Charles Krupa / AP file
During a tense, four-day manhunt that paralyzed the city, Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier was shot dead in his car. Boston police officer Dennis Simmonds also died a year after being injured in a confrontation with the bombers.
Police captured a bloodied and injured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where he hid in a boat parked in a backyard hours after his brother died. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was involved in a shootout with police and was run over by his brother as he fled.
“I think we’re all still living with those tragic days from 10 years ago,” former Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans said recently.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death and in recent years much attention has been paid to his attempt to avoid being executed.
A federal appeals court is considering Tsarnaev’s latest bid to avoid execution. A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston heard arguments in January in the 29-year-old’s case but has not yet ruled.
The appeals court initially rejected Tsarnaev’s death sentence in 2020, alleging that the trial judge had not adequately screened jurors for possible bias. But the U.S. Supreme Court revived it last year.
The 1st Circuit is now weighing or other issues not considered by the Supreme Court require the death sentence to be handed down a second time. Among other things, Tsarnaev says the trial judge wrongly rejected his challenge of two jurors who, according to defense lawyers, lied during the jury selection hearing.
The bombing not only united Boston – “Boston Strong” became the city’s rallying cry – but inspired many in the running community and prompted numerous of those affected by the terror attack to run the marathon. So-called Marathon daffodils were held at the memorial sites on Saturday in several flower pots with the words “Boston Strong.”
“It really ignited and showed the resilience of our sport and our city, our desire to go even better together and improve the Boston Marathon,” said Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the Boston Athletic Association. “The bombing in 2013 resulted in a new appreciation or a different appreciation for what Boston, where the Boston Marathon has always stood for, which is that expression of freedom that you receive and receive while running.”
On Saturday, the focus will be mostly on remembering victims and survivors of the bombing, but also, as Wu said, “really making sure that this was a moment to focus on where the city and our communities, our families in going into the future.”
That feeling will be reflected in what has come to be known as “One Boston Day,” where acts of kindness and service take place to honor victims, survivors, and first responders. Nearly two dozen community service projects are taking place this year, including a shoe drive and several food drives, blood drives, and neighborhood cleanups.
“This time of year evokes strong emotion for so many of us in the city and the people who were touched by the tragedy a decade ago. But the most overriding one is that Boston is indeed strong and our communities are standing up for each other in times of need,” said Jacob Robinson, the executive director of West Roxbury Main Streets, one of the groups organizing the shoe drive. a statement.
