Death Benefits Approved for Family of Boston Officer Wounded in Boston Marathon Shootout

The State Retirement Board in Massachusetts has awarded a line-of-duty death benefit to the family of a police officer who was wounded in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombers and died a year later.

The family of Boston Officer Dennis Simmonds will receive a one-time payment of $150,000 under the Retirement Board decision on Thursday.

Police say Simmonds suffered a head injury when the bombers - brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - shot at police and threw homemade bombs in Watertown days after the April 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260.

Simmonds died a year later at the Boston Police Academy gym.

Retirement Board officials cited a state medical panel's report that said Simmons' death was probably related to the confrontation with the bombers.