Newton survivor saw ‘best friends killed in front of him’
Newton father Martin Marro remained sedated in intensive care in a New York hospital last night with three cracked vertebrae after surviving the Manhattan bike path attack — and it’s unclear how much he knows about the attack that injured him.
In his hospital bed, with his wife at his side, he had not been told as of yesterday that five of his Argentinian high school pals were killed.
Back home in Newton, friends of the 48-year-old biomedical researcher and father of two sons grappled with the horrific attack on one of their own.
“It hit home. I’m a retired Marine,” said James Cote, a Newton city councilor whose wife is close friends with Marro’s wife. “My kids have served. My brothers have served. We’ve been chasing terrorists around and dealing with them for 30 years now as a family. This makes us angry and it’s very aggravating that we’re still dealing with this — and now we’re dealing with it at home.”
Marro’s wife, Mariana Dagatti, rushed to her husband’s side Tuesday night. Cote’s wife followed yesterday to support her.
“Mariana’s distraught. Like Martin, she lost a lot of longtime friends,” Cote said. “It’s incomprehensible how you even handle that.”
Cote said Marro’s condition was stable in intensive care.
“But mentally, the scope and magnitude of losing five of your closest friends from 30 years,” Cote said, “how do you adjust to that aspect of it?”
Mateo Estreme, Argentina’s consul in New York, said last night Marro was “conscious but he is very sedated” at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital. Estreme said Marro had not been told about the deaths of his five friends.
Just last Monday, Marro and his wife hosted a fundraising event attended by Gov. Charlie Baker for Cote’s re-election bid for Newton city councilor. Marro said then he was looking forward to hosting his school friends from Argentina, who were on their way here for a 30-year reunion.
“He’s just a great allaround guy,” Cote said. “Their family is from Argentina but they’re like the classic, all-American family. They’ve got the nice little house in the suburbs. Kids play in sports. He coaches soccer, plays soccer himself in the adult league. They go to parochial school.”
Kristin Heyer, a family friend, called Marro a “pillar of the community” and said their two oldest boys play on the same soccer team.
“I was pretty horrified, especially given Martin was down visiting friends from Argentina, in a carefree bike riding mode, to just be plowed down in that regard,” Heyer said. “I was shocked, devastated. I had great relief he survived, but all day just worried even as he physically heals, the trauma of having witnessed all his best friends killed in front of him is going to really leave a lasting scar.”
Cote said, “Martin was just going about his everyday business of living a happy, quality life, unsuspecting. It’s just a weak way of attacking civilians who have no stake in the game, who aren’t prepared. As long as they target events … you have a lot of potential for getting groups of friends like this and families involved as casualties.”