Last night, after hours of watching the news and reading one too many tweets of people being awful to each other, I shut the television off, downed a stiff cocktail, and said prayer for the victims of yesterday's bomb attack at the Boston Marathon. The explosion killed three people and injured 176.
My deepest condolences to the loved ones of the dead, who were all watching the race near the finish line at the time of the blast: 8-year-old Martin Richard of Dorchester; 29-year-old Krystle Campbell of Arlington; and an unidentified Chinese national who was a graduate student at Boston University: BU student killed in blast identified as Chinese national.
The name of the victim has not yet been released, pending permission from the family.More here: Third fatality in Boston blast is Chinese national.
An official at the consulate's press section, who was not authorized to give his name, told the Associated Press that one Chinese student was injured and another died in the blast. The official said a work group from the consulate was in Boston to investigate the situation and assist relatives.
The BU statement said that the students were two of three friends who watched the race near the finish line. The injured student had surgery on both Monday and Tuesday and was in stable condition at Boston Medical Center. The third student was unhurt in the blasts.
If you've watched or read any amount of news in the last day, there's not much information that I can communicate here that you don't already know. No arrests have been made, and no one has claimed responsibility. With little concrete information, let's keep cool heads and not jump to any premature conclusions. That said, f&*k you to whoever did this.
UPDATE: The family of the dead student has asked that she not be identified, according to the Boston Globe, the university and the Chinese consulate. She was a graduate student at Boston University, studying mathematics and statistics: Chinese student killed in bombings had followed her passion to Boston.
UPDATE: It's now being widely reported that the third Boston Marathon bombing victim is graduate student Lu Lingzi, who was described as a bright and promising student. Here's more on her background: China Grieves for Young Grad Student Slain in Boston Bombings.
