BOSTON — A woman whose close friend was killed in the Boston Marathon bombings has described the panic that ensued after the first explosion.
Danling Zhou testified Monday during the federal death penalty trial of bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Zhou said she thought the loud noise she heard was a sewer explosion. But Zhou said her friend, Lingzi Lu, grabbed her arm and said, “What happened?” and “What should we do?”
Seconds later, the second bomb exploded.
Zhou said she looked in front of her and saw a man whose legs had been blown off. She said when she looked at Lu, she thought she would be OK because she seemed to still have her arms and legs.
She found out later in the hospital that Lu had been killed.
A woman who lost her legs also took the witness stand on Monday. Jessica Kensky entered the courtroom in a wheelchair. She told jurors her left leg was amputated right after the bombing. Her right leg was amputated in January.
In the first two days of testimony, prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses, including several marathon spectators who described losing limbs. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.
Tsarnaev’s lawyer acknowledges he committed the crime but says his older brother recruited him.
