The boy of eight killed cheering the runners at the finish line of the Boston Marathon was part of a ‘perfect family’, neighbours said last night.
Martin Richard became ‘the boy who will never come home’ when two bombs went off as he waited in the crowd with his family.
The explosions happened after they had returned to their seats in the grandstand with ice creams to look for friends who were running, according to US reports.
Family torn apart: Martin Richard, bottom right, is pictured in an undated photo with his family. His mother, Denise, has undergone brain surgery and his six-year-old sister Jane lost a leg in the blast, while his older brother, Henry, 12, escaped injury
Martin’s mother Denise, 43, a librarian in his school, was critically injured and has had brain surgery, while his sister Jane, six, lost a leg. His older brother Henry, 12, is thought to be unharmed.
Just hours after the tragedy their father Bill, 42, a community organiser, was said to be in such shock he ‘looked like the walking dead’.
Neighbours described how he came back to his £500,000 flat in Dorchester, Massachussetts, at 10.30pm on Monday still wearing hospital scrubs.
Jane Sherman, 64, said Mr Richard spent about ten minutes inside as he got some clothes. She said: ‘I said: “Oh my God Bill, are you okay?” He didn’t even look at me and his friend came over to tell me. He told me that Martin had died and that the others were in the hospital.’
She added: ‘There are no words to describe this whole situation. They have lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years and I’ve been here 30 so I’ve seen those boys grow up.
‘They are a wonderful family and this is a horrific tragedy. I don’t know if they are ever going to get over this. Put yourself in their situation if you have a family.’
In a statement last night, Mr Richard said: ‘My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston. My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries.'
Last April, Martin Richard posed with this hugely poignant sign saying 'no more hurting people. peace'
Tragic: Martin Richard, 8, was among the at least three people killed in the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon
‘We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers.
‘I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin.’
Last April, Martin posed with a sign saying: ‘No more hurting people’ and ‘Peace’ in a deeply poignant photograph. He was pictured after learning in class about the death of Trayvon Martin, the black US teenager shot after he got into an argument with a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator.
It was posted on Facebook yesterday by school friend Lucia Brawley who said: ‘My hope is that we all live by Martin’s words . . . by following his example’.
Although he is a runner, Mr Richard had been injured and did not compete in the marathon.
Dan Aguilar, 50, a project manager who lives next door, said the Richards seemed to be the ‘perfect happy family’.
He said: ‘I saw them on Easter Sunday all sitting on the porch as a family and they all looked so happy. The boys were always playing in the yard, Martin seemed so full of life.
‘They were just a typical American family. When I heard the news it kept me up at night. Their little boy will never come home again.’
Neighbors of 8-year-old Boston bombings victims reflect
My dear son: In a statement released on Tuesday, Bill Richard thanked family, friends and well-wishers
Vigil: Neighbors lit a candle outside the Richard family home and wrote the word 'Peace' on the pavement after hearing of Martin's death
On the pavement outside the family home last night, somebody had written the word ‘Peace’ in chalk.
Among the other victims of the bombings were two brothers who both lost legs.
J P and Paul Norden were standing next to Martin Richard when the bombs went off.
Paul Norden, 31, whose girlfriend was also seriously burnt, rang his mother, Liz, from the back of an ambulance. ‘Ma, I’m hurt real bad,’ he told her. He said his older brother had been beside him but he now didn’t know where he was.
Grief: Peace is written on the sidewalk in front of the Richard house in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston
Respects: Neighbors come to pay their respects at the Richard house as police stand watch
Memorial: Well-wishers left flowers and cards on the door step of eight-year-old Martin Richard's home in Dorchester
Support: 'Pray for Martin' is written in chalk at a park near the home of Martin Richard in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston
Although he said only that his legs were badly burned, the damage proved far more serious and one had to be amputated. Mrs Norden, a mother of five, rushed into Boston from her home in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and discovered her other son was in a different hospital.
The 33-year-old had also lost a leg in the same spot – just below the knee – due to serious burns.
‘I’d never imagined in my wildest dreams this would ever happen,’ said Mrs Norden.
‘I really don’t know too much because it’s just so overwhelming. It’s like a nightmare.’ She said neither brother knows that the other was badly hurt because they remain heavily sedated.
They had gone to the marathon with five other friends, one of whom also lost a leg.
At least 17 people have had to receive amputations. Surgeon George Velmahos said some victims had been considered ‘automatic amputees’, adding: ‘We just completed what the bomb had done.’
School mourns: The flag flies at half staff in front of the Neighborhood House Charter School in the Dorchester where Denise Richard works and Martin attended
Close-knit community: Neighbors hug outside the home of the Richard family as they try to come to terms with the tragedy
Tears: A local family comforts each other after placing flowers at the Richard family home in Dorchester
Prayers: A father and daughter take time to reflect on the horror that left an innocent family torn to pieces