First responders including Carlos Arredondo, in cowboy hat, tend to Jeff Bauman, who was severely wounded after two explosions occurred along the final stretch of the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., Apr. 15, 2013.
NewsFeed highlights some of the people who sprang into action to help those in need when two bombings near the Boston Marathon finish line Apr. 15 killed three and injured more than 170.
Carlos Arredondo: The cowboy-hat-wearing Costa Rican immigrant and peace activist was handing out American flags to the runners when the first bomb exploded – a tribute to his son Alexander, a Marine who died in Iraq in 2004, NBC News reported. Arredondo told the New York Times that after the blast he jumped over a fence and ran towards the people lying on the ground — where he found spectator Jeff Bauman with his shirt on fire and the lower parts of his legs gone. Arredondo beat the flames out with his hands, tied a t-shirt around the stump of one of Bauman’s legs, and kept him company until emergency responders arrived.
(MORE: Krystle Campbell, 29-Year-Old Restaurant Manager, Killed at Marathon)
Dr. Allan Panter: This Gainesville, Georgia, doctor was watching his wife run from the sidelines when the bombs went off. While half a dozen people around him fell to the ground, the doctor started treating the injured, though he told ABC News that he spent most of his time trying to resuscitate one woman in particular until emergency personnel arrived with a stretcher, AccessNorthGa.com reports.
Former New England Patriots player Joe Andruzzi carries a woman from the scene after two explosions went off on Boylston Street near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon, Apr. 15, 2013.
Joe Andruzzi: The former New England Patriots offensive lineman carried an injured woman to safety, and a photo of the courageous act has gone viral. He did not know the woman’s name; he only knew that she was from Virginia, and that she and her three daughters were looking for her husband, who was running in the race. Just moments ago, he had carried a man covered in blood to the medical tent. Andruzzi’s instinct to help runs in his family; his brothers are NYC firefighters who worked at Ground Zero during 9/11, ESPN reports. A cancer survivor himself, Andruzzi had been at a marathon watching party for his cancer charity at The Forum, a restaurant along the finish line, when the explosions occurred.
(MORE: Remembering 8-Year-Old Martin Richard: The Morning After the Attacks)
15 National Guard Members: When 15 active-duty Massachusetts National Guard soldiers planned to run the Boston marathon with 40-pound “rucks,” military backpacks stuffed with “CamelBaks of water, extra uniforms, Gatorade, changes of socks—and first-aid and trauma kits,” they had no idea the supplies would actually come in handy, they told Mother Jones. They were participating in “Tough Ruck 2013,” marching the 26 miles in honor of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the bombs went off, the troops, who were assembled at the medical tent near the finish line, sprang into action and began “pulling burning debris off of people so that the medical personnel could get to them and begin triage,” the 1060th Transportation Company’s Lieutenant Stephen Fiola told Mother Jones.
Alyssa Carter: The cousin of Celeste and Sydney Corcoran — a mother and daughter from Lowell, Mass. who were injured in the attacks — Carter has already raised more than $220,000 on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe.com to help pay her cousins’ medical bills. Sydney sustained sharpnel injuries, while Celeste lost both her legs.
Boston Restaurants: City eateries such as Appleton Cafe and Vapiano have been donating food and letting people use their establishments as places to regroup, according to FOX News. At one point, El Pelon Taqueria was offering free watermelon juice and wi-fi, and letting people use its electrical outlets to charge their phones. The Middle Eastern restaurant Oleana volunteered on Facebook to put up anyone who needed a place to stay. On Reddit, a California woman Liz Kosearas organized Random Acts of Pizza, a thread where people worldwide can arrange via GrubHub for Boston pizzerias to deliver pies to needy people or places where people are working around the clock such as Boston hospitals, fire houses and police stations.