Murdered At The Marathon

The little boy who died in Monday's Boston bombing has been named as eight-year-old Martin Richard from Dorchester in Massachusetts - killed as he was standing in line waiting to give his marathon running father a hug.

Losing his life as two explosions tore through the crowd at the finishing post of the Boston Marathon, Martin was at the race to support his dad Bill Martin, along with his mother Denise Richard and two siblings.

Friends held a vigil on Monday night at the neighborhood Tavolo Restaurant in Dorchester for Martin and his mother and sister, who suffered 'grievous' injuries in the bombing on Monday afternoon.

According to the Boston Globe, Martin Richards had walked out to hug his father as he went to cross the finishing line.

Afterwards, his father walked on but the little boy went back to rejoin his mom and siblings - at which point the first bomb went off.

Reports suggest that his mother was terribly injured and his sisters leg was blown off in the devastating explosion.

This news came after around 20 police and federal officials, including members of the bomb squad searched the apartment of a 'person of interest' in the Boston marathon bombings on Monday evening after witnessing an erratic driver circling past the State Police barracks a number of times.

Officers with the Revere police force, which is five miles from downtown Boston, pulled him over and a source told WBZ-TV that he displayed a 'nervous demeanor'.

The driver then led police, as well as the 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.

A source confirmed that the large police presence at the home in Revere is related to the Boston Marathon bombings - which killed three people, including an eight-year-old boy and left 144 people injured - 17 critically.

Marcus Worthington, 24, a resident in the building said no one from the police or FBI has told him what is happening.

I started noticing the cars, the Taurus there and that one about 5,' Worthington said. 'We were thankful we decide not to go down. It’s best not to jump to conclusions.'

Boston Police Crime Scene Response unit arrived and two members of that unit took several brown paper bags, normally used to store evidence taken from the scene, into the building and left with them full afterwards.

On Monday, the FBI, which has taken over the investigation into the outrage - announced that they were searching for a man they described as having dark skin, wearing black clothes and a black back-pack who tried to gain entry into a restricted area during the marathon.

It was also reported that he may have had a foreign accent.

And with the victims reportedly ranging from two-years-old to 63-years-old, hospitals across Boston have said that they were removing ball bearings from a large number of the 144 injured in the co-ordinated and almost simultaneous bomb blasts.

Medical officials have said that at least 10 injured people had limbs amputated and several of the patients treated at Massachusetts General Hospital suffered injuries to lower limbs that will require 'serial operations' in the coming days, trauma surgeon Peter Fagenholz said on Monday night to CNN.

Initially counter-terrorism sources in the city believed that seven devices were planted across the city - but only two detonated.

However, a law-enforcement official said late on Monday evening that investigators now doubt those devices were bombs, but were in fact suspect packages - left behind as runners and pedestrians rushed away from the scene in the aftermath of the blasts.

Eventually law enforcement and city officials disputed published ­reports that investigators had discovered one or more bombs that had failed to explode.

A federal law enforcement official told CNN that both bombs which detonated at the Boston finish line were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive was used - indicating they were crude devices.

And at an evening briefing, officials said the National Guard had cordoned off the area to preserve evidence.

Boston police initially issued an alert for a rental van that may have sought access to the marathon route, and then another alert for a man wearing dark clothing and a hood who was seen leaving the scene of the blasts.

CBS News reported earlier that authorities are also reviewing surveillance video that shows a man from behind carrying two backpacks near the site of the explosions. Authorities are not sure whether the subject in the video is linked to the blasts.

Boston police say no suspect has been taken into custody. 

The two bombs which exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140, raised the specter that terrorism has struck again in the U.S.

Indeed, a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.

In Washington, President Barack Obama vowed during an address to the nation just after 6 p.m. on Monday that, 'Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.

Boston 'is a tough and resilient town,' he said, adding that Americans will stand by Bostonians 'every single step of the way.

source : Dailymail

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