Ten miles away from the site of the finish line of the Boston Marathon, where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev detonated explosives that killed three people and wounded another 170 bystanders, an electronic billboard belonging to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union (IBEW) that reads "Cowards" now stands there.
The billboard, which rotates every ten seconds between "Cowards" and "Pray for Boston" is an expression of the strong emotions that have ripped through the city and surrounding suburbs in the wake of the attack on the Boston Marathon and ensuing manhunt that killed Tamerlan, 26, and eventually captured Dzhokhar, 19.
Michael P. Monahan, a Boston business manager, said, "It was Local 103′s way of shouting out our feelings of anger: Cowards."
According to an ABC News report, none of the union's 7,500 members were hurt by the actions of the Tsarnaev brothers but the chapter's headquarters is located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the home of eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in one of the blasts. The Richard family was easily one of the hardest hit by the Boston tragedies; in addition to the death of Martin, his sister and mother were each gravely hurt in the attacks.
"No other word or words came to my mind when I heard of the tragic event downtown Boston on Patriot's Day when a family from our neighborhood was effected so tragically," Monahan said. He also told ABC News that the union has designs on keeping the billboard to honor victims of the bombings, but is working on creating new messages for it to display.
The four-day ordeal finally came to a close late last night, when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was discovered less than an hour after the lockdown of Boston and surrounding suburbs was scaled back. Discouraged police and FBI officials had not found him after an entire day of non-stop searching, but a homeowner went into his yard and saw blood on his boat. When he went to inspect it, he found the Dzhokhar lying there, wounded. He then called police who eventually took him into custody.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
