Police, Residents Attend Officer Sean Collier’s Wake
Flags at half-staff, a police caravan leading a hearse and the Patriot Guard Riders lining Main Street in Red, White and Blue. A long, almost silent trail of mourners waiting to enter a local funeral home and a row of TV news trucks. Bystanders and passersby no longer have to ask, “What happened?” “What’s going on?” They know. It’s a scene that’s become all too familiar – Sunday in Medford, Monday in Stoneham and at Boston University and soon in Dorchester. On Monday in Stoneham, police paid respects to one of their own, 27-year-old Sean Collier, an officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was shot and killed Thursday night in his police car. Hundreds of others also attended the wake for Collier, a Wilmington native and Somerville resident, at the Anderson-Bryant Funeral Home on Common Street. The wake was private. A public memorial ceremony is scheduled for noon Wednesday, April 24, at MIT’s Briggs Field (270 Vassar St., Cambridge). Collier’s death led to the manhunt for the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects, one of whom was killed in Watertown. The other was captured hiding in a boat behind a home there and was recently charged. Police believe the suspects, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, respectively, killed Collier before fleeing. The bombing at the marathon killed three more, 29-year-old Medford native Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old BU graduate student from China, and 8-year-old Martin Richard of Dorchester, and injured nearly 200 others. More than 1,000 locals remembered Collier, a 2004 Wilmington High School graduate, Saturday night in a vigil at Wilmington Town Common. At the vigil, Collier’s brother, Andrew, asked residents to keep Collier in their hearts. “Sean will continue to live on and his legacy will continue to live on,” he said. South End Patch
Hundreds Attend Wake for Krystle Campbell
Friends and family began the process of saying goodbye to Krystle Campbell Sunday, showing strength in their numbers. Campbell, 29, was a Medford native and Arlington resident killed in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings. The line that formed at Dello Russo Funeral Home on Main Street was lengthy even before the doors opened at 3 p.m., eventually wrapping around the corner of Billings Avenue. The program Sunday’s wake, provided to Patch by funeral director Fred Dello Russo, Jr., was adorned with pictures of Campbell, a 2001 Medford High School graduate, throughout her life. Inscribed in the middle of the program was the following message: “Always remember we love you. Although you could not stay, you’ll always remain in our hearts, until we meet again, our beautiful Krystle.” The wake brought out some who had no previous connection to Campbell. Roberto Garutti, a Medford resident who lives on nearby George Street, said he didn’t know Campbell or her family. But he felt compelled Sunday to come and pay his respects. “It effects everybody,” Garutti said. “It effects Medford, too. She was part of the city here.” Garutti said he was impressed by the show of support from the community. He was impressed with all the stories about Campbell, saying she seemed like a “wonderful girl.” “She deserves all of this,” he said of the turnout. “One-hundred percent.” Campbell will be laid to rest Monday. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Parish, 118 High St. in Medford. Burial will then take place at Oak Grove Cemetery. South End Patch