The Boston bombing was a horrific tragedy that shook the world. The senseless act carried out by two men that took lives, changed lives, but ultimately brought our country closer together.
As testimony is heard by victims and witnesses during the bombing trial this week, we learned that one father had to make a decision that no father should ever have to and it is heart wrenching. My heart went out for all affected by the bombing then and it continues to go out for those affected now. I am a New England resident and this hit all too close to home.
Here is what was said earlier today by Bill Richard who lost his young son during the attack.
Bill Richard knew his son wasn’t going to make it. But the father of three told his wife he couldn’t stay by 8-year-old Martin’s side.
The boy’s body was torn apart by an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. His skin had changed color. A crowd hovered over him, frantically trying to help, but he was dying.
Speaking from the witness stand at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial on Thursday, Richard told jurors he was faced with a heartbreaking choice.
“I knew in my head that I needed to act quickly, or we might not only lose Martin,” he said. “We might lose Jane, too.”
Moments after the blast, Richard had stumbled toward Jane, his 7-year-old daughter. His pants and sneakers were torn apart. His legs felt like they were on fire. He could barely hear. And the air smelled “vile,” he said, like gunpowder, sulfur and burned hair. But he soon realized the situation was much worse for his daughter.
“She tried to get up and she fell. That was when I noticed her leg,” he said. “She didn’t have it. It was blown off.”
So Richard left one son to die near the marathon finish line, and shielded his other son’s eyes from the carnage as they raced to the hospital, hoping that doctors could save his daughter’s life.
“It was,” Richard said Thursday, “the last time I saw my son alive — barely.”
Source : CNN
