Sean Collier, the MIT police officer murdered Thursday night, had a NASCAR connection: Collier’s brother, Andrew, is a machinist at Hendrick Motorsports.
Friday morning, the team issued the following statement.
“The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports are with Andrew Collier and his family. Andrew, a machinist in the Hendrick Motorsports engine department, tragically lost his brother, Officer Sean Collier, last night in Cambridge, Mass. We ask that the family’s privacy be considered during this difficult time.”
According to FOX News, at about 10:20 p.m. on Thursday night, April 18, police received reports of shots fired on the MIT campus. At 10:30 p.m., Collier was found shot in his vehicle in the area of Vassar and Main streets. According to authorities, the officer was found evidencing multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and pronounced deceased.
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the two brothers who are suspected of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing, are also suspected of murdering Collier. Tamerlan later died after a shootout with police.
Johnson said he also knew Nicole Gross, a 31-year-old personal trainer from Charlotte, who suffered a broken right ankle and two breaks in her left leg in the bombing. Johnson said he swims twice a week at a Charlotte facility where Gross works as a personal trainer.
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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