Community Corner

Local Nonprofit Part of Boston Bombing Hoax

Photo of little girl from past Virginia race co-opted in viral fib.

Organizers of the annual Joe Cassella 5K in Great Falls are outraged a photo from the race was circulating as part of a hoax in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings Monday.

"We would like to clarify that the picture circulating on the web and Twitter of a little girl wearing a Joe Cassella 5K bib claiming to have been killed at the Boston marathon is being used fraudulently," the Joe Cassella Foundation wrote on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

The photo was used along with the claim that the girl in the picture, age 8, died while running in Boston in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting victims.

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The information from @HopeforBoston (now disabled) went viral (even though children are not permitted to run in the Boston Marathon and by now official courses have given details on the three deaths).

MSN.com reports that the photo likely circulated after media outlets confirmed that an 8-year-old child died in the attack while he was waiting to greet his father at the finish line. But that child was a boy and was later identified as Martin Richard.

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The image of the girl was shared more than 11,000 times on Facebook, reporting her death and asking people to wear red to honor her.

Vivi Cassella, president and co-founder of the Leesburg-based Joe Cassella Foundation, told MSN the little girl is alive and well.

 “We think it’s a dishonest thing to do,” Cassella told MSN News. “As parents, we feel disgusted by that…We feel bad for the parents of the real victims, especially the little boy. It’s just sad that it takes away attention from the real victims.”

The fouth annual Joe Cassella 5K will be held May 19 in Great Falls Village Center. Click here for more info.


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