
(On the right) marathon enthusiast Karen Machan finishes the race a few minutes before the first explosion.
University of Hartford describes itself online as centrally located in between New York City and Boston, but just because Boston is close to UHart does not mean we are the only ones suffering from this act of terror. The Hartford community is just one of the many parts of this nation that is suffering due to the loss of three people from the attack, as well as the injuring of many others.
Hampton, Conn. local, Laurie Berand, waited by the finish line to support her sister Karen Machan, who was running in the race. At 2:46, just four minutes before the first of two explosions that were 12 seconds apart, went off, Machan crossed the finish line and immediately went to the medical tent due to dehydration right before the bomb went off. Machan has previously run 9 full marathons and 20 half marathons, but never experienced one as scary as this. Machan plans to keep running despite the danger she was in on Monday. She will be running Big Sur in Cali. on April 28.
Berand and Machan’s husband Scott anxiously waited for her to appear. When they could not find her right away after the explosion, they tried calling around to find out what was going on, but the police told them to stay off their phones.
Berand said, “Behind the finish line there was police cars, ambulances, Suv’s gators with stretchers roaring by us. I was frantically looking for Karen when her husband Scott got a call from a physician saying that she was in the medical tent.” People there had no idea what was happening; the whole area awash in chaos and crowds.
However, after the second explosion, Berand and her husband John could tell it was not an ordinary fire, and that something terrible had taken place, on what is typically referred to as “Marathon Monday,” an event that is looked forward to by Boston locals and runners alike. This was the 117th Boston Marathon.
“After the second explosion, Scott, my husband John and I looked at each other and knew something terrible was happening. We heard the explosions, a sound I will never forget, and I will never forget the smell. I have been to many fires, but this was not a fire smell. The explosions were so very loud and everybody was like what was that….What just happened?” said Berand.
The Berand and Machan family were lucky to not have been one of the families torn apart by this tragedy. The Richard family, who was waiting for their father to finish the race, was gravely affected by the bombs. His eight-year-old son Martin Richard was killed by the blast, and his daughter and wife were critically injured.
Another person killed was Boston University graduate Lu Lingzi, who was waiting for her three friends to finish the race. Her friends were also injured by the explosion, and one even had to have surgery. One nearby college, Emerson, was forced to go into lockdown to keep its students safe; however, the explosions still injured seven of their students.
The third person killed was Krystle Campbell, 29, who was watching the race with her friends when the bomb went off.
Three people were killed by the acts of terror, 180 were injured, and 30 people are currently in critical condition. Many colleges, including Boston University and Suffolk University, all over Boston are holding vigils to honor the people lost or hurt by the explosions.
The FBI charged two brothers from Russia, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with the bombing. The entire city of Boston was on lock down as the police sought to arrest the brothers. Tamerlan, 26, died when he suffered fatal injures from multiple gun shots and his brother running him over with a stolen SUV in an attempt to get away from the shoot out with the police early Friday, April 19.
Dzhokhar, 19, although wounded escaped by hiding in someone’s covered boat. He was outside of the police’s search perimeter by a street and a half, and most likely would not have been found had not the boat’s owner noticed the ladder had been moved and blood on the white boat cover.
He reported what he saw to the police, and they confirmed his location by flying overhead in a helicoper, using heat imaging technology to identify that there was indeed a body inside the boat.
The police were afraid that Dzhokhar might have explosives on his body, but they had him surrounded Friday night. Eventually Dzhokhar surrendered and the police immediately drove him to the hospital where he was treated for gunshot wounds and possibly self-inflicted neck wounds.
Since Dzhokhar is charged with detonating a weapon of mass destruction and maliciously destroying public property, federal crimes, he could be facing the death penalty.
Dzhokhar is currently in critical condition.
Friday night, people lined the streets of Cambridge, Mass. cheering the police on as they triumphantly left with Dzhokhar in custody, happy they could sleep safe that night.