Marathon bombing victim costume leads to death threats for Mich. woman

A Michigan woman who posted a picture of herself online dressed as a Boston Marathon bombing victim says she and her family have received death threats because of the costume.

Alicia Ann Lynch, 22, tweeted a photo of herself on Halloween in a Saginaw Valley State University race shirt with dirt and fake wounds on her legs and face. Twitter users reacted with fury at the costume, calling Lynch “disgusting” and “heartless.”

The Twitter account she posted from has since been suspended.

Users soon realized Lynch had once posted a photo of her driver’s license, and circulated the information before the account’s suspension, BuzzFeed reports.

Lynch told BuzzFeed in an email that the outfit was “too soon, and will always be that way.”

“I myself have been through tragic events, I just handle mine differently because that is how I was taught to,” she said. “I realize I was in the wrong with this and again, I am truly sorry.”

She said she had been fired from her job and had received death threats over the phone, and that strangers had threatened her parents and best friend.

“I’m like, how is that even right?” she said. “She didn’t know what I was doing. My family didn’t know what I was doing. I don’t live with them. And they’re all getting dragged into this for something I did.”

It was not clear on Monday whether Lynch was seeking police protection in response to the threats.

Boston Magazine reported Wednesday on multiple people claiming they were dressing up as either the bombing victims or the bombers for Halloween, and had one word of advice: “Don’t.”

“While dressing as an alleged terrorist is disheartening, going as someone wounded in the blasts is even more insensitive — even if it’s just a passing thought,” Steve Annear wrote for the magazine.