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Tuesday, Apr 16, 2013 11:15 PM UTC

Restaurant manager, 8-year-old among bomb victims

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Restaurant manager, 8-year-old among bomb victimsNeighbors sit outside the house of Krystle Campbell's parents in Medford, Mass.,Tuesday, April 16, 2013. Campbell was killed in Monday's explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)(Credit: AP)

BOSTON (AP) — Third-grader Martin Richard had just gotten ice cream and was near the Boston Marathon finish line, eagerly watching for friends to run by. Krystle Campbell was enjoying the race with her best friend, hoping to get a photo of the other woman’s boyfriend after he conquered the last mile.

Then the unthinkable struck. The spirited 8-year-old with a wide grin who dressed up one Halloween as Woody from “Toy Story” was dead, along with the outgoing 29-year-old woman and a Boston University graduate student — victims of twin blasts that turned a scene of celebration into chaos.

Some 180 others suffered injuries that included severed limbs, shrapnel wounds and abdominal lacerations.

Jeff Bauman Jr., a man pictured in an Associated Press photo being rushed from the scene Monday in a wheelchair, lost both legs. Rescuers took the 27-year-old to Boston Medical Center, where doctors had to amputate because of extensive vascular and bone damage.

“Unfortunately my son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” his father, Jeff Bauman Sr., wrote in a Facebook post.

The younger Bauman, who had been at the race to cheer on his girlfriend, had to have further surgery because of fluid in his abdomen.

“I just can’t explain what’s wrong with people today, to do this to people,” the father wrote of the darkness that stained the race on Patriots’ Day. “I’m really starting to lose faith in our country.”

While mourning the dead Tuesday, friends and neighbors tried to focus on positive memories of cherished ones whose deaths still seemed unreal to them.

“I just can’t get a handle on it,” said Jack Cunningham, a longtime friend of little Martin and his family. “In an instant, life changes.”

Cunningham recalled how, as a pint-sized preschooler, the boy had insisted on getting out of his stroller during a 5K race in South Boston. As soon as his mom let him out to run with the rest of the family, Martin took off along the rainy race course.

“He was just having a ball, splashing in every puddle,” Cunningham said.

The boy’s father, Bill Richard, released a statement thanking friends, family and strangers for their support following his son’s death.

Richard’s wife, Denise, and the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Jane, suffered serious injuries in the blasts. Their older son, Henry, wasn’t hurt. Two neighbors said that Jane lost one of her legs in the attack.

“My dear son, Martin, has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston,” Richard said. “My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries. 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.”

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a family friend, said Martin and his family were trying to get over the race barriers and into the street after the first blast, when the second bomb struck.

“They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit,” said Lynch, who has known the Richards for 25 years.

Bill Richard, a runner and cycling enthusiast who had stayed out of the race because of an injury, had to have several ball bearings from his leg, Lynch said.

On Tuesday, a candle burned on the stoop of the family’s single-family home in the city’s Dorchester section, and the word “Peace” was written in chalk on the front walkway. A child’s bicycle helmet lay overturned near the front lawn.

At a nearby park, the words “Pray for Martin” were written in large block letters on the pavement.

Next-door neighbor Betty Delorey said Martin loved to climb trees and play sports with his siblings and the other children in the neighborhood.

“I can just remember his mother calling him, ‘Martin!’ if he was doing something wrong,” the 80-year-old said. “Just a vivacious little kid.”

A photo of the three Richard children on Halloween in 2009 showed a smiling Martin dressed as Woody from the “Toy Story” films, complete with cowboy hat, neck scarf and a sheriff’s badge. Beside him stood Jane, dressed as the film character Jesse, and Henry, dressed as Harry Potter.

“He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him,” said Judy Tuttle, a family friend. “Denise is the most spectacular mother that you’ve ever met and Bill is a pillar of the community. It doesn’t get any better than these people.”

She recalled having tea recently with Denise Richard, a librarian at the elementary school both Martin and his sister attended, while Martin did his homework.

“What a gift,” Tuttle said of the 8-year-old. “To know him was to love him.”

Kevin Andrews, headmaster at the Neighborhood House Charter School, said the school community was heartbroken by the loss of the third-grader, whom he called “a bright, energetic young boy who had big dreams and high hopes for his future.”

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston, said a Mass on Tuesday in Israel for those impacted by the bombing, archdiocese officials said. He also called the pastor of St. Ann parish in Dorchester, where the Richards attend church, to say he was praying for them.

Boston University said one of the victims was a graduate student who was watching the race with friends at the finish line, which is not far from the school. It did not identify the student.

In nearby Medford, William Campbell, described his daughter, Krystle, as the light of his life, “a very caring, very loving person.”

“Daddy’s little girl,” the 56-year-old said.

His wife, Patty Campbell, her voice breaking into tears, said the couple was “heartbroken at the death of our daughter.”

“She was a wonderful person. Everybody that knew her loved her. … She had a heart of gold. She was always smiling. You couldn’t ask for a better daughter,” the mother said. “This doesn’t make sense.”

Their daughter’s best friend, Karen Rand, suffered a severe leg injury in the blasts. “She’s very badly hurt, she’s all messed up,” Campbell said. “Her leg was all destroyed.”

A friend and co-worker described Krystle Campbell as hardworking yet fun-loving, someone who knew how to live life to its fullest.

“We’d go out drinking and she’d work a double the next day,” Sheba Parent said. “But she was still career oriented and focused on her goals.”

____

Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg, Jay Lindsay and Pat Eaton-Robb in Boston, Katie Zezima in Arlington, Mass., and Michelle Smith in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.

More Bridget Murphy.

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