8.Shane O'Hara — Direct
171 linesSHANE O'HARA, duly sworn
COURT CLERK: Have a seat, please. State your name and spell your last name for the record, keep your voice up and speak into the mic so everyone can hear you.
SHANE O'HARA: Shane O'Hara, O-H A R A.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Good afternoon. How old are you?
SHANE O'HARA: Forty-four.
MR. WEINREB: Do you have a family?
SHANE O'HARA: I'm sorry?
MR. WEINREB: Do you have a family?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, I do.
MR. WEINREB: And what town do you live in?
SHANE O'HARA: I live in the town of Raynham.
MR. WEINREB: How long have you lived there?
SHANE O'HARA: Twelve years now.
MR. WEINREB: Where do you work?
SHANE O'HARA: Marathon Sports.
MR. WEINREB: And where's that located?
SHANE O'HARA: It is located on Boylston Street, 671, Boston, Mass.
MR. WEINREB: What do you do there?
SHANE O'HARA: I'm the store manager.
MR. WEINREB: How long have you had that job?
SHANE O'HARA: I've been there since it opened in 2001, May.
MR. WEINREB: And how long have you been the manager of Marathon Sports?
SHANE O'HARA: Since May of 2001.
MR. WEINREB: Can we bring up 789, please?
MR. WEINREB: So, Mr. O'Hara, you're going to see on your monitor a map. And let me see if I can make it a little bigger. I'd like to make it a little bigger than that. Okay. So turning your attention here -- all right. Let's try that again. Okay. So is that Marathon Sports right there?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: And you see this mark there?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, I do.
MR. WEINREB: Do you know what that represents?
SHANE O'HARA: That is the finish line to the Boston Marathon.
MR. WEINREB: Is the store normally open on Marathon Monday?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: What hours?
SHANE O'HARA: We open -- it's one of my -- after a long, busy weekend, that's one day that I can open up at ten o'clock as opposed to nine o'clock. So ten o'clock we usually open on Marathon Monday.
MR. WEINREB: And are you normally there?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: Doing what?
SHANE O'HARA: Monday is kind of a strange day. It's a quiet day after a very busy weekend, knowing -- like Tuesday is one of your -- probably your maybe third or second busiest day. So Monday is the day I can kind of -- you know, we have a large staff enough so we -- I do a lot of cleanup, a lot of prep work because I'm getting product from the other stores that are now closed on Monday, that I prepare to get ready for Tuesday. So for me it's a day that I can kind of do behind-the-scenes -- you do some selling, but you don't do a lot of footwear; you do more T-shirts, marathon apparel.
MR. WEINREB: And what's the day usually like outside of the store?
SHANE O'HARA: In only a few years did we have rain, but it's usually a nice day so the crowd even starts to gather at that time. You can kind of start hearing the -- you know, the announcements from when the race is starting and people start gathering, and they already have maybe their spot already picked out. And I would say throughout the whole, entire day the crowd starts to go maybe eight to ten people deep. Obviously for the elite runners when they come, that's the biggest crowd, and then it starts to thin out through the day.
MR. WEINREB: And what's the day usually like inside the store?
SHANE O'HARA: It's a day of constant motion of people coming in and out. You know, you'll answer your questions. Do you have a bathroom? No. You know, they'll hang in there a little while, especially if it's early in the morning when it's a little on the cold side. Some people -- because it's a Monday and some places are closed -- we actually even take in returns on that particular day from the other stores. So it's kind of a common -- it's a normal day but you have a lot more quicker sales. So it's more interactions. Those are the days that you have people that are from out of town that are now in the city to watch their runner finish.
MR. WEINREB: Now, I notice the store is called "Marathon Sports." Is there a special relationship of some kind between the store and the marathon?
SHANE O'HARA: No. The original store is out in Cambridge. It's been around since 1975. And the original owner, I assume, just came up with the name "Marathon Sports."
MR. WEINREB: Do you personally have any special relationship with the marathon or with the runners?
SHANE O'HARA: I definitely do. Through the years, you know, you start to -- you get your -- maybe you meet your runner for the first time that they're getting their pair of shoes for the first time maybe around December-January, and you kind of follow them through. Before the store in Boston, I used to manage the one in Wellesley. So I've known many runners now for many, many years that you help them from the time they get their shoes to process of getting food, clothing, training tips, all that.
MR. WEINREB: Were you working on Marathon Monday in 2013?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, I was.
MR. WEINREB: And do you remember when you and I met earlier, you looked at some pictures that had you in them?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. Those were Exhibit 6, Exhibit 8 and Exhibit 9. Were those fair and accurate pictures of what it looked like outside the store at the times that those pictures were taken?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, they were.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. And you also remember looking at Exhibit 7 which was a surveillance video from the surveillance cameras in your store?
SHANE O'HARA: Uh-huh.
MR. WEINREB: You have to say yes or no.
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: And was that also a fair and accurate depiction of what was going on inside the store at the time that video was taken?
SHANE O'HARA: Absolutely was.
MR. WEINREB: Your Honor, the government offers Exhibits 6, 7, 8 and 9.
MS. CLARKE: No objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right. Exhibits 6, 7, 8 and 9 are admitted.
(Government Exhibit Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 9 received into evidence.)
MR. WEINREB: Can we have Exhibit 6, please.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: So do you see that store called "Sugary Heaven"?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, I do.
MR. WEINREB: And is Marathon Sports, your store, just to the left?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: And is that you standing in the doorway with your arms crossed?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, it is.
MR. WEINREB: What are you doing in that picture?
SHANE O'HARA: Basically, I'm -- the finish line is obviously just to the left of where I would be looking, so I'm just watching some of the runners finishing, probably noting maybe the times that they're coming in. Because I have to kind of go in and out, I can't really hang out necessarily out there, so I just kind of guard the door a little bit.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. And down here we see some flags. Are those the flags that line the street where the finish line is?
SHANE O'HARA: That is correct.
MR. WEINREB: Were you in the store when the bombs exploded that day?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, I was.
MR. WEINREB: How well do you remember the events of that day?
SHANE O'HARA: I feel I remember them pretty -- very well. Yeah. I wouldn't be able to say that I remember exactly, but I remember it very well.
MR. WEINREB: Did they make a strong impression on you?
SHANE O'HARA: It would be something that you would think that you would never forget in your life.
MR. WEINREB: Have you thought about that day much since it happened?
SHANE O'HARA: We take our runners out and watch them run in the shoes that we've provided for them, so every day I do because I -- every day you walk outside, you can -- you are in that area.
MR. WEINREB: What's the first thing you remember happening when the bombs exploded?
SHANE O'HARA: Probably the first thing I remember is the sound, turning and seeing the instant cloud of dust.
MR. WEINREB: What was the sound like?
SHANE O'HARA: To me, it reminded me as a kid playing with firecrackers. It was like a big canon sound.
MR. WEINREB: And you say that you saw smoke?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: Was that outside the window of your store?
SHANE O'HARA: Completely engulfed the whole window.
MR. WEINREB: How far away were you, would you say, from the door of your store when the bomb went off?
SHANE O'HARA: I'd probably say I was as far as the end of that table, just in front of where the -- probably maybe even a little closer from the jury box.
MR. WEINREB: Your Honor, I don't know the distance, but if the record could reflect the witness is reflecting from the witness box to the jury box.
THE COURT: Well, not quite, but I think he was referring to counsel table for the prosecution.
MR. WEINREB: I see, your Honor.
SHANE O'HARA: I'm not good with measurements on that, either.
(Laughter.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: That's fine. Did the blast shatter the window of the store?
SHANE O'HARA: It did. It's a two-pane glass, from what I found out. So the first pane was completely shattered through; the second one luckily held.
MR. WEINREB: And what did you do when the bomb went off and you heard the noise and you saw the smoke?
SHANE O'HARA: I was selling a pair of shoes to an old colleague, and we basically were drawn to go to the front of the door.
MR. WEINREB: And what did you do when you got to the door?
SHANE O'HARA: I believe we were just -- kind of started taking in people. People started coming in from the outside. It was kind of one of those -- a chaotic kind of moment where you heard -- you're seeing people coming in. I guess you wouldn't even know if you should even go outside yourself. And then there was sounds of needing help. So it was a reaction of going outside and helping.
MR. WEINREB: Okay.
MR. WEINREB: Can we have Exhibit 7, please, the video.
(Videotape played.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: So is this the inside of Marathon Sports?
SHANE O'HARA: That is correct. That shot there is looking out towards the window from the front door.
MR. WEINREB: That was a customer who just walked in?
SHANE O'HARA: That's our old apparel manager that just walked by with the ladder.
MR. WEINREB: So in the inset, the white circle, is that you in the shorts and the --
SHANE O'HARA: Yes.
MR. WEINREB: -- fleece?
SHANE O'HARA: Yup.
MR. WEINREB: And the rest of it is showing the exterior? In other words, the remainder of the frame is showing the view out the front door?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes. So like on the bottom screen, where that orange jacket is, that's a camera that you can see outside so you can see people coming in through your front door.
MR. WEINREB: All right. Now, what just happened?
SHANE O'HARA: That was the -- that was the bomb.
(Videotape played.)
MR. WEINREB: Is that you standing near the door?
SHANE O'HARA: That's me. I just kind of opened up the door there.
MR. WEINREB: What are you doing?
SHANE O'HARA: Probably at this stage we're trying to get people into the store. The door usually is opened, so now I'm just kind of holding it up and we're reaching in and trying to grab people in -- into the store. You ask about my memory. I thought originally I was right at that door, and that's kind of a chaotic moment. This is the woman that -- I didn't necessarily remember that I did the tourniquet. I thought I passed that on to somebody else.
MR. WEINREB: So is that what you're doing there, you're tying something around her leg?
SHANE O'HARA: Yup. One of my goofinesses of me is I look at people's feet. So the first thing I remember is seeing her feet and seeing blood trickle down her leg. And then I felt for where her -- where the blood was coming from, and that's then when I grabbed the shorts.
(Videotape played.)
MR. WEINREB: Now, what are you doing here?
SHANE O'HARA: We just started now tearing off as much of the apparel as we could possibly find and get -- that's one of my other colleagues in the green shirt there. We're just now taking -- me as a manager, I feel like I still have to do kind of my job, so we were trying to save hangers.
(Laughter.)
SHANE O'HARA: We were trying to -- one of the strange thoughts that went through my head was how am I going to take care of the inventory that is leaving the store right now.
MR. WEINREB: But the apparel you were taking outside, what was it going to be used for?
SHANE O'HARA: It was going to be used for -- one of the screams that we heard is that "We need tourniquets." So it was going to be just used for that: tourniquets, gauze, pressure holders, anything that we could possibly use it for.
MR. WEINREB: What is the scene now like outside of the store?
SHANE O'HARA: Kind of total controlled chaos. The one shot that you see, you see everyone standing, and then after that moment, everyone's on the ground. The only ones that are standing are the ones that weren't hurt and that are attending to people. You feel like you're constantly going in and out, grabbing more and more apparel each and every time, and it just seemed like it was another person that needed help. It was -- there were -- the things that haunt me is the -- making decisions that who needed help first. Who needed more. Who was more injured than the other. And I feel like that was never my role to make that decision, but you felt like you had to do that. In one of the sections, it was a scene from, like, Saving Private Ryan or Platoon or anything that you see in the movies that I would never have thought I would have seen in real life.
MR. WEINREB: Do you remember what it smelled like out on the street?
SHANE O'HARA: To me it was a gunpowder smell. It was kind of a burned hair smell. That's the smell that you would -- that -- I would always remember smelling that.
MR. WEINREB: And what about the -- what were you hearing? What were the sounds out there?
SHANE O'HARA: Hearing -- it took a little while before alarms went off. So my building's alarm is very loud, and so it's a piercing ee, ee, ee noise. You would be hearing screams. You start hearing then medics coming in, police officers coming in. People are saying, like, "Get away." "Need help over here." Cries. I heard the -- a voice of someone saying, "Stay with me, stay with me." We -- the one sound that I heard from the door that -- we saw where the flags were. There's the stanchions that they keep, so they needed to get into that. So there were cries for getting that to be torn down. And there's kind of like a dull silence, so that's kind of all you heard, is, again, the cries, sirens and screams of that.
MR. WEINREB: May I have Exhibit 8, please.
MR. WEINREB: What are we looking at here?
SHANE O'HARA: That's our storefront. So the black fencing that we have, it was always used for our private viewing of seeing the elites. The owner has many friends in the country that they, you know, they come down from other running stores, so we have kind of your private guests. You see the fencing now is torn down, and then you see everyone that was injured.
MR. WEINREB: Is this you right here?
SHANE O'HARA: Yes, it is.
MR. WEINREB: Can we have Exhibit 9?
MR. WEINREB: And again, is this now you over here?
SHANE O'HARA: I was told -- that is me. I was told one time by an officer to try to keep people from coming in. That's why my hands are out. And I realized very quickly that that was not going to happen. I remember distinctively a gentleman that didn't have his shirt on and had a face that had I tried to stop him, I probably wouldn't be standing there anymore. He probably would have run me over or hit me. And then I remember doctors coming up from the street and they were showing me their medical gloves going, "All right. I'm not going to stop these people anymore," and decided that this was a waste of my time, that I needed to probably go back in the store and get more clothing.
THE COURT: Mr. Weinreb, we've come to one o'clock. I don't know how much more you have.
MR. WEINREB: Just a few more questions, your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Did the store have to close after the bombing?
SHANE O'HARA: We were closed from that time up until the following Thursday, so ten days.
MR. WEINREB: And was the store physically damaged by the blast?
SHANE O'HARA: We were damaged by that window. We had tile that needed to be replaced, we had rugs that needed to be completely torn out, and we had paint from down in the basement that needed to be repainted.
MR. WEINREB: And what about the other stores on Boylston Street in the area where the bombs went off. Did they have to close as well?
SHANE O'HARA: That whole entire street was closed until that Thursday the following week, so yes.
MR. WEINREB: Ten days?
SHANE O'HARA: Yup.
MR. WEINREB: Thank you, Mr. O'Hara.
SHANE O'HARA: You're welcome.
MS. CLARKE: No questions, your Honor.
THE COURT: No questions?
All right, Mr. O'Hara, thank you. You may step down.
We will take the lunch recess at this point. We'll resume at two o'clock.
Jurors, this is our first recess since the evidence has begun. Please, no discussion of any of the evidence among yourselves or otherwise. We'll see you at two o'clock.
COURT CLERK: All rise for the Court and jury. The Court will take the recess.
(The Court and jury exit the courtroom and there is a recess in the proceedings at 1:02 p.m.)
(After the recess:)
COURT CLERK: All rise.
(The Court enters the courtroom at 2:08 p.m.)
COURT CLERK: Be seated.