Wounded officer recovering but still critical as MIT mourns policeman

The transit officer gravely wounded by the alleged Boston bombers Thursday night is recovering at hospital as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mourned the murder of a campus policeman who shot dead trying to stop the suspects.


MIT officer Sean Collier, 26, was heralded as a dedicated hero who enjoyed climbing snowy mountains, training young boxers and playing kickball on a team called Kickhopopotamus.

Collier had been at MIT for just over a year and impressed students and his colleagues with his contagious enthusiasm, be it offering students rides or volunteering for extra duties, his supervisors said.


Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects after responding to a report of a disturbance Thursday night




Donohue was a veteran of the navy and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 2002

Early reports indicate Tamerlan Tsarnaev (left) and brother Dzhokhar (right) killed officer Sean Collier in a shooting at MIT before critically injuring officer Richard Donohue in another gunfight

Massachusetts transit officer Richard Donohue, 33, meanwhile, is out of surgery and has been stabilized.

A transit agency spokesman says Donohue remains in critical condition Friday at Mount Auburn Hospital.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo says Donohue is a married father of a 6-month-old child. He has been with the MBTA's police department for three years.




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'Facing extraordinary danger, Officer Donohue never hesitated in fully engaging the terrorists in order to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth,' Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan said in a statement. 'I am extremely proud of him, and cannot say enough about his heroic actions.'

Donohue graduated in the same police academy class as Collier.


Collier's work as an officer was praised today.


Collier was a country fan who enjoyed camping and telling jokes





Reporters said Collier never even confronted the suspects and was shot while in his squad car

'Just the other day - and I still have it on my computer - he asked me if I would have a problem if he approached the homeless shelter to see if he could become a member of the board of directors, so that he could work with those people down there and try to mitigate problems before the problems develop,' MIT Police Chief John DiFava said Friday.

'The kid was the real deal,' he added.

Investigators say Collier was shot while responding to a report of a disturbance. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

'Our only solace is that Sean died bravely doing what he committed his life to - serving and protecting others,' his family said in a statement.
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Authorities said Collier was shot multiple times



On twitter, friends said all Collier wanted to do was be a police officer

MIT says Collier was a native of Wilmington and a Somerville resident who had worked at MIT since January 2012. Before that, he was a civilian employee of the Somerville Police Department - a force he hoped to join one day as an officer.

Collier focused on becoming a police officer after graduating with honors from Salem State University in 2009 with a criminal justice degree. Bob Trane, an alderman in Somerville whose ward includes the home where Collier lived, said the young man contacted him about the process of becoming a police officer.

'He was a young guy with an old soul, mature beyond his years,' Trane said. 'He knew what he wanted in life and he was working toward that goal. ... His whole life was focused on going into law enforcement.'


Collier was described as a brave and warm person always ready to help





Collier likely would've joined the police department this June, fulfilling a lifelong dream

Collier helped with Trane's re-election campaign a couple times by holding a campaign sign on street corners. He also got to know Collier when he worked in the Somerville Police Department.

'He was old school - respectful, courteous, dedicated,' Trane said.

He was also active.

Collier climbed snowy peaks like Mount Washington in New Hampshire with the MIT Outing Club, where members knew him for his enthusiasm and his habit of bringing pepperoni as a trail snack.


He helped teach the younger boxers at The Somerville Youth Development & Boxing Club, said trainer Bod Covino. And Collier played in a kickball league on Sunday afternoons with the Kickhopopotamus.

'He participated in our national kickball competition in Las Vegas with his team and was certainly a kickball lover at heart,' Priscilla Vega, a spokeswoman for WAKA Kickball & Social Sports, said in an email

The family did not comment beyond the statement that read in part, 'we are heartbroken by the loss of our wonderful and caring son and brother.' Collier's brother Andrew works for Hendrick Motorsports as a machinist in its engine shop.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who called Collier's death 'such a tragic loss,' said he was excited about the chance to soon name Collier a Somerville police officer. He said Collier was looking forward to it too.




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Transit officer Richard Donohue, 33, was shot in a gun battle with the suspects and taken to surgery