The haunting image from #BostonMarathon bombings that will stay w/ me forever (UPDATE: THEY GOT HIM)

I weep – literally – at seeing this picture:

RIP, little Martin Richard.
RIP, little Martin Richard.

The story, via The Smoking Gun:

In a chilling image obtained by the FBI, one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects can be seen standing behind the young boy who was killed by one of Monday’s terror blasts, The Smoking Gun has learned.

[…]

The photo, reproduced below, shows suspect #2 lurking several feet away from the metal barricade (and behind a trio of young women). Immediately to the left of the women is Martin Richard, the eight-year-old Dorchester boy who was killed by the explosion. To the child’s right is his seven-year-old sister Jane, who lost a leg in the blast.

The children were at the race cheering on their father, who ran in the marathon. According to the Boston Globe, the Richard family had watched most of the race from a spot several blocks away from the Copley Square finish line. However, after an ice cream break, they moved closer to the end of the course, ending up against the barrier in front of the apartment building at 775 Boylston Street.

There are other images, too – of the man being wheeled away from the scene in a wheelchair, legs horribly mangled by the blast to the point he lost both of them below the knee. His name is Jeff Bauman, and though badly injured he turned out to be a huge help to investigators in trying to crack this case by being able to describe “Suspect 2”, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19 – the one of the two brothers still “at large.” Suspect 1 – the older brother Tamerlan – was killed overnight in a gun battle with police. Sean Collier, 26 and an MIT police officer, was also killed. Incidentally, his brother Andrew Collier works as a machinist with Hendrick Motorsports here in Charlotte. Please pray for his family, and that of MBTA Officer Richard Donohue, 33, who was seriously wounded from the overnight violence.

But the picture of little Martin standing there with his little sister, anxiously and excitedly waiting for his dad to cross the finish line, while his killer lurks in the background and the instrument of the young boy’s murder sits just a few feet away will haunt me and many others for years to come. It’s a agonizingly heartbreaking reminder of how life can change literally in a split second. This innocent young boy, enjoying a beautiful Boston day with his family – including having most children’s favorite snack ice cream – one second he’s alive, the next he’s gone. No chance at a full life of happiness and contentment and excitement. The pain his family must be going through as a result of not just of the loss of little Martin, but the devastating injuries to his mother and sister has to be unbearable. I know I can’t even write about it without choking up. What must they be going through?

Pray for his family, for all the victims and their families, and for the law enforcement at all levels of government putting their lives on the line to bring the other suspect in this vicious terror attack to justice. And hug your family members and friends VERY tight, let them know you love them. Because life is too fragile, too precious to take for granted.

Update – 11:30 PM: “Suspect 2” is now in custody — in a Jewish hospital.

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