Tuesday evening, President Brown sent the Boston University community a second e-mail pertaining to the tragic events of yesterday’s Boston Marathon. This one came with the heavy-hearted confirmation that a BU graduate student was among the three deceased.
“I write to you with great sadness to inform you that one of the fatalities in yesterday’s bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon has been identified as a Boston University graduate student,” Brown wrote.
The student was identified as Lu Lingzi (GRS ’15) on Wednesday, April 17, two days after the bombing. The student was said to have been watching the marathon at the finish line with two other friends, one of which was a fellow BU graduate student. This student is injured and presently in stable condition at Boston Medical Center.
A BU Today article on the tragic news caused their website to temporarily crash.
President Brown’s e-mail arrived just as a vigil began on Marsh Plaza. Students present at the vigil may not have even yet been aware of the greater significance the ceremony had taken, with the news of a death that has touched the large but united Boston University family.
Update
Following the announcement of the student’s identity on April 17, the Boston University Chinese Students Association set up a table in Marsh Plaza, where they received flowers and condolences from the larger community. In addition, a small memorial of bouquets was laid at the base of Marsh Plaza’s statue memorializing Martin Luther King, Jr.