Thursday, 25 April 2013

Boston bombs: Memorial for slain officer Sean Collier

Thousands of mourners have held a memorial for a university police officer killed in his car on 18 April, three days after the bombing during the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. Wednesday's service was held as anonymous US officials told the Associated Press that the bombs had been triggered by remote-controlled detonators. Collier was laid to rest in a private funeral on Tuesday.

About 4,000 students, staff and police officials from around the country attended the ceremony. Queues of mourners stretched for about half a mile (0.8km), an hour before Wednesday's ceremony started. They made their way through tight security, including metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs. During the ceremony, Collier's brothers thanked police officers and others for their support.

Collier had worked for the prestigious university's police department for more than a year and had been involved in campus activities, in addition to his role as an officer.
Photo of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier MIT students remembered Collier as involved in campus life.

Many people express their regret to Collier. Mr Biden told the family: "My heart goes out to you. I hope you find some solace in this time of extreme grief." He also said the university's diversity and record of innovation represented a "nightmare" for those who hated and would attack America. "The only way they can gain ground is to instil fear that causes us to jettison our values, way of life, for us to change," Mr Biden said.

"He hoped to 'maybe deal with issues before they became problems'," Chief DiFava said.

"He is one of the nicest people that I've ever met," Kelly Daumit, an engineering student who hiked with Collier as part of a university social club, told AP news agency.

Maybe the best reply to him is that the shooting led to a huge manhunt that ended in the death of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the wounding of his younger brother and alleged accomplice, Dzhokhar. Hope the people all over the world live in a peace environment.

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