The 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombing appeared to reach for his mother in the final, grueling moments of his life, court testimony revealed Thursday.
Footage from the terror attack shows a small blurry figure, believed to be young Martin Richard, raising his hands right after the second blast near the marathon’s finish line, Boston.com reported. The harrowing video, which had already been shown in the court, was used again Thursday, the final day of prosecutors’ arguments against convicted bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev.
Richard, who was standing less than four feet from a bomb, was the youngest of the three people killed in the attack that also injured more than 260. A trauma surgeon from Massachusetts General Hospital who previously testified in the trial said Martin most likely suffered severe pain in the last moments of his life.
Survivor Stephen Woolfenden, the prosecution’s final witness, said he saw Richard’s eyes “rolled back in his head” after the explosions and put his hand on the back of the boy’s mother, Denise, to comfort her.
This was despite Woolfenden losing his own left leg in the bombing, which he said he didn’t immediately notice. He said Denise asked if he was okay, and an anguished Woolfenden simply said, “Yes.”
Woolfenden also recalled seeing his own son, 3-year-old Leo, suffering from burns, a fractured skull and other drastic injuries. The two had come to watch Woolfenden’s wife, Amber, run the race.
“Leo was crying, screaming uncontrollably. Saying, ‘Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy,”’ Woolfenden testified, according to the Boston Globe. “I was completely terrified because I didn’t know if I was ever going to see my son again.”
Tsarnaev was convicted April 8 of all 30 charges stemming from the April 2013 attack. The jury must now decide if he will face the death penalty. His defense attorneys, who are trying to get him life without parole, are expected to begin arguments Monday.
Martin’s parents chose not to testify but have publicly spoken out against him getting the death penalty.
Follow @jaysunsilver
With News Wire Services
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
