Friends weep for bomb victim aged eight

Friends and neighbours of Martin Richard, the eight-year-old killed in the Boston marathon bombings, have spoken of their horror and sadness at his death.

His mother, Denise, and six-year-old sister, Jane, were badly injured. His brother and father were also watching the race but were not hurt.

They had gone to get ice cream, then returned to the area near the finish line. Neighbour Jack Cunningham said Martin’s father Bill was a runner but had been injured and did not run the marathon.

Family friend congressman Stephen Lynch said: “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,”

A lone candle burned on the step of the family’s home in Boston, and “peace” was written in chalk on the front drive. A child’s bicycle helmet lay overturned on the front lawn.

“What a gift. To know him was to love him,” said friend Judy Tuttle, who talked of sitting at the dining room table having tea with Denise Richard while Martin did his homework. “He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him. 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.”

Neighbour Betty Delorey, 80, said Martin loved to climb trees and hop the fence outside his home.

“I can just remember his mother calling him, ’Martin!’ if he was doing something wrong,” she said. “Just a vivacious little kid.”

Mrs Delorey had a photo showing Martin dressed as the character Woody from the Toy Story films, wearing a cowboy hat, a sheriff’s badge, jeans and a big smile.

Martin Richard.

His sister, Jane, was at his right dressed as Woody’s friend, Jesse. Their older brother, Henry, was to their left, dressed as Harry Potter. I’m sick to my stomach,“ she said. ”It’s hard to say anything really.“

The children’s father is the director of a local community group, and an avid runner and cyclist. Mrs Richard is a librarian at the Neighbourhood House Charter School, which both Martin and Jane attended.

Counsellors were being made available to staff and students, said a school spokeswoman. “We are devastated,” she said. “The whole community is devastated.”