(NECN: Leslie Gaydos) - Boston University's "Initiative on Cities" conference is taking an in-depth look at the Boston Marathon bombing, providing other cities with useful crisis management information.
BU grad student Lu Lingzi was one of three people killed in the bombings last April.
"For us, this conference is very personal. We know first-hand how lives have been lost, shattered and changed forever by a senseless, horrific event." said Boston University President Robert Brown. "But we can honor Lu Lingzi and the others who died on Marathon Monday by thoughtfully examining what we have learned from those dreadful days of last April."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick recalled the chaos of that afternoon.
"We knew that there had been two explosions, minutes apart, and that there were many injured," "What was most significant, I believe, was how much we didn't know. How many were injured or killed? Who was responsible? What was the motive? Was it over?"
Former Mayor Tom Menino stressed the importance of having qualified leaders in place.
"Our firefighters, EMS teams knew what to do when people needed to be rescued. Our hospitals, especially, knew how to organize their teams when they were flooded with injuries," said Menino. "Our response that day was second to none."
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Gov. Patrick praised the actions of law enforcement during the arrest of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
"One state trooper who works with me said any one of them would gladly have put a bullet in the suspect," said Gov. Patrick. "Yet when the order was given to hold their fire, they held their fire. And when the suspect was placed on a gurney and wheeled out past all of them, not one gesture of disrespect was shown. The restraint of law enforcement in circumstances like that was a thing to behold and a thing to admire."
