Boston Marathon Verdict Reaction: Remembering Martin Richard, Sean Collier, Lu Lingzi And Other Victims

Martin Richard was a Little League baseball player, big brother and native of Massachusetts. His life ended April 15, 2013, when one of two bombs went off near the finish life of the Boston Marathon, ripping limbs from his small body.

“I saw a little boy who had his body severely damaged by an explosion,” his father, Bill Richard, told a jury last month during the Boston bombing trial, “and I just knew from what I saw that there was no chance, the color of his skin, and so on.”

Families, friends and supporters remembered the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings Wednesday after a jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 federal criminal counts, including using weapons of mass destruction, after a little more than 11 hours of deliberation. Jurors must next decide whether Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death or serve life in prison.

"Today's verdict will never replace the lives that were lost and so dramatically changed, but it is a relief, and one step closer to closure," victim Jeff Bauman said in a statement on Facebook. Bauman lost both legs in the first of the two explosions on Boylston Street.

Tsarnaev’s lawyer admitted the former college student helped orchestrate the bombings. But he argued that Tsarnaev did not deserve the death penalty because he was influenced by his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed by police days after the bombings.

Besides Martin Richard, the bombings also killed Lu Lingzi and Krystle Campbell -- and wounded more than 260 others. After the verdict, an outpouring of support for the victims emerged across social media platforms, with many calling on supporters to post photos of the victims instead of Tsarnaev.

“On the occasion of today’s guilty verdict in U.S. District Court, the collective thoughts of the entire Massachusetts State Police are with the victims, survivors and families of those maimed by these cowardly acts of terrorism," State Police Col. Timothy P. Alben said in a statement posted on Facebook. "In today’s verdict, we hope to turn another page in the recovery and healing of our community. We are hopeful that in justice, those that have been injured may find some sense of peace.”

Lingzi was a Chinese graduate student at Boston University, USA Today reported. Campbell managed a steakhouse restaurant and went to watch the marathon every year. "She was a wonderful person. Everyone who knew her loved her. She was a sweet kid and friendly, always smiling. She worked so hard at everything she did," Krystle's mother, Patty Campbell, told reporters.

Sean Collier, a police officer for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was killed four days after the Boston Marathon bombings, when he was ambushed in his police cruiser by the Tsarnaev brothers during a police manhunt.