Boston Common Vigil Mourns Marathon Bombing Victims

BOSTON/Boston Common - Several hundred people gathered on the Boston Common last night to mourn the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings under a banner asking for peace. There was no program for the event. People wrapped their arms around each other, spontaneously breaking into song, singing "Amazing Grace," "Dona Nobis Pacem," and "America the Beautiful." The air was heavy with grief as students, children, and community members knelt to sign a banner inscribed with, "Boston, You're Our Home." A child crawled over the writing, and decided to doodle on the side as he peered up at adults, confused. A little girl grabbed a pink piece of chalk and began drawing a heart along the ring of cement surrounding the Rotunda. Strangers held hands and looked on as another banner was rolled out for signing.

Three Back Bay locals, only wishing to be identified by their first names, Matt, Justin, and Alex, were among the mourners. Justin said, "My brother was at the finish line, and I couldn't get through to him when it happened. The cell coverage was terrible. When I did reach him, I found out he had his back to it. A friend of his who had also barely crossed the line, was missing, but we found out she's okay."

Matt was an acquaintance of Krystle Campbell, the 29-year-old Arlington resident who was identified as the second victim of the blasts. He said little.

Justin continued, "Authorities were saying not to congregate in crowds. That's not how we do things here though. We need something like this to allow us to come together." He had been on Newbury Street when he heard the explosions.

Christian Bergen-Aragon, an student and resident assistant at Emerson College, was running the marathon and had been at mile 24 when he received a phone call from his friends telling him of what had happened near the finish line. He said, "People weren't stopped until .5 miles from the finish line. I got like ten calls about the explosion right away. I was near a friends' apartment, so I ran there and stayed for four hours watching the news, and returned to Emerson." Bergen-Aragon is a brother of the fraternity Phi Alpha Tau, and mentioned that his sister sorority, Kappa Gamma Chi, had seven young women who were injured and taken to the hospital with lacerations, hearing problems, and concussions.

A total of nine Emerson students were taken to the area hospitals, and all have since been released. According to Bergen-Aragon, there is a strong support system for the students, "I'm an RA. We have multiple stops for students to come and talk in our residence halls, along with mental health services. President Pelton gave us the day off so we could mourn. Some of the students came together and started a campaign, "Boston Strong," to sell tee shirts and donate the profits to the victims and their families." As of this morning, the campaign has raised $30,000 dollars and over a thousand shirts have been sold.

The sun began to set as hums of "Down to the River to Pray" drifted across the park. People began to light candles, passing the flame from stranger to stranger. One young woman from the South End, wishing to only be identified by her first name, Ashley, said, "I heard about this on Facebook. I had been at work downtown when a customer walked in telling us what was going on. I was scared, because my father was there watching, like he does every year. It's his thing, you know? After calling him multiple times, I found out he was alright. It's scary, this happening here at home, especially in an area where we all walk everyday."

Nearby, a man stood speaking with reporters and occasionally looking over the crowd. This is the second time Hood River Oregon resident, Gary Daubenspeck, has run the Boston Marathon. He wasn't even supposed to be running this year.

"My friend had asked me to help him train for the marathon months ago. After training we had to enter our info with the BAA, and I decided, well, I should add my info too. I hadn't planned to. My friend ended up not running, but here I am. I finished at around 2:15. I had asked an official if I could watch runners cross the line from the stands, and was told to go around to Exeter Street (where the first bomb went off 35 minutes later). On the way there, I realized that I needed to check out of my hotel. I was walking out the of subway in Cambridge and saw ambulances…and thought, where could so many ambulances be going? When I walked into the hotel, my roommate told me what happened."

Daubenspeck said, "My first reaction was, "I hope no one got hurt or was killed. Things like this have happened…with terrorists, but it's still… a lot to take in. Now we know there were casualties. I stayed today because it was the first day that I haven't been training or stressed. I took in the beauty of the city, and found myself walking out of this train station called Arlington. I didn't realize where I was until I saw Boylston Street and how it was secured. The street, as far as you could see, was empty. And that's when it shook me. I was overwhelmed and couldn't stop crying." Daubenspeck is planning on running two more marathons this fall and said, "No, this won't be deterring me."

The vigil was one of several called around the Boston area over the next few days.