It is the story of Martin, a bright boy who loved riding his bicycle and climbing trees in the suburb of Dorchester, that has most disturbed residents of a city trying to recover from an attack that killed three and wounded 174. Bill Forry, a close friend of the Richard family and an editor at the local newspaper, said in an article yesterday that Martin was an "adorable" boy who still held his mother's hand when they walked to the grocery shop to buy milk.
"Martin Richard was a little boy who charmed his teachers, annoyed his sister, and roughhoused with his big brother," he said. "He could be mischievous, but was old-school polite with his elders and peers.
"He wanted to be a hockey goalie, even though he wasn't yet a hockey player," Forry wrote. "When he wasn't scoring touchdowns and batting homers, he liked to stargaze and learn astronomy from his next-door neighbours, who in Dorchester are like family even if there's no relation."
Peter Guiney, 39, an estate agent raised on the same street as Martin, described it as "the perfect place for a boy to grow up.
"I just can't bear to think of Bill, seeing what he has seen and remembering it every day," he said, after delivering flowers to the Richard house.
"But if one neighbourhood can get him through this, it's this one."
- Telegraph Group Ltd
