Addressing more than 1,700 mourners at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, U.S. President Barack Obama memorialized the runners injured and killed in Monday’s terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon, but said the city, and its people, would heal and come back stronger than ever.
“As you begin this long journey of recovery, your city is with you,” Obama said. “Your commonwealth is with you. Your country is with you. We will all be with you as you learn to stand and walk and, yes, run again. Of that I have no doubt. You will run again.”
Two explosions occurred Monday afternoon near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, resulting in three deaths and 176 injuries. One of the casualties was an 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard, another was Krystle Campbell, 29. The third fatality of the blasts, Lu Lingzi, was a graduate student at Boston University. Obama declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts on Thursday morning, allowing federal money to assist response efforts to the attacks on Monday.
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross was at capacity on Thursday morning for the memorial event, entitled Healing Our City: an Interfaith Service. The church was filled for the service with victims of the attacks, police officers, fire fighters, politicians and citizens. A group of first responders from the Boston Medical Center were given the first three rows. Some attendees wore their blue and yellow Marathon jackets or their medals.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was the first politician to speak, lifting himself slowly out of a wheelchair he has been seen in since he broke his leg last Friday.
“Nothing can defeat the heart of this city,” Menino said. “Nothing.”
Menino went on to praise all the first responders and agencies involved in the recovery and healing efforts. Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick also lauded the citizens of the Commonwealth for their reaction to the bombings when he spoke at the service.
Patrick said he was proud that the people of the Commonwealth, for “in the aftermath of such senseless violence, [they] let their first instinct be kindness. In a dark hour, so many of you showed so many of us that darkness cannot drive out darkness.”
An abundance of religious clerics were also in attendance, speaking on the tragedy of the bombings and the resilience of love and peace over hate and war.
Liz Walker, reverend for the Roxbury Presbyterian Church, said Boston has been badly shaken by the attacks, but was confident the city could and would escape the darkness.
“We will rise in community and face whatever the future holds, resolutely as one,” she said. “This is what is demanded of us, and this is who we are.”
A number of Boston residents that attended the service said it was heartening to hear the words of Obama and other leaders.
Megan O’Brien, 27, from Dorchester, said she started waiting in line at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday to see the service.
“I don’t go to church a lot, but I wanted to come experience this and pay my respects,” she said. “I thought it was really well done.”
David Hastie, 33, said the remarks he heard were “very positive, warm and comforting.”
The service came three days into an FBI investigation still looking for answers. On Wednesday, confused reports led many to believe that a bombing suspect had been detained, which was later denied by both the FBI and the Boston Police Department. Forensic experts have recovered what they believe to be fragmented pieces of a pressure cooker bomb, and surveillance videos have proved key in identifying suspects. Still, with this progress, no one person or party has been arrested for the deadly bombings.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who attended the service, said afterwards the investigation was going well, but would take attentive, slow work.
“They [law enforcement] are dotting every ‘I,’ they are crossing every ‘T’ because what matters to us is that they bring the right people to justice and they will,” Warren said. “We have people who are strong and resilient.”
In his remarks Thursday, Obama promised that whoever was guilty would be found.
“Yes, we will find you,” Obama said. “And, yes, you will face justice. We will find you. We will hold you accountable.”
Kyle Plantz and Chris Lisinski contributed reporting.