Alicia Ann Lynch has come under fire after she shared this photo of herself at work dressed as a Boston Marathon bombing victim for Halloween.
The 22-year-old from Michigan shared the photo on Twitter and on Instagram, where thousands of users commented with disgust.
Boston Marathon victim Sydney Corcoran, who was severely injured along with her mother, Celeste, also tweeted to Lynch:
@SomeSKANKinMI You should be ashamed, my mother lost both her legs and I almost died in the marathon. You need a filter.
— Sydney Corcoran (@Sydney23Lynne) November 2, 2013
Lynch reached out to BuzzFeed by email to express her regret at her costume choice, her message read:
“It seems as though my outfit was too soon, and will always be that way, it was wrong of me and very distasteful. My costume was not meant to disrespect anyone, ever. I am truly sorry to anyone that I may have offended or hurt with this. I know my apology doesn’t ever fix anything that has been done, but at least know that I am being sincere.
“I can’t undo my actions or make up for them, but my apology is a start.
“I myself have been through tragic events, I just handle mine differently because that is how I was taught to. I realize I was in the wrong with this and again, I am truly sorry.
“I wore a costume to work, with people that know me, and wouldn’t get offended by it. I had even ran the idea by a friend whom had his father in the marathon and he didn’t have an issue with it.
“What I did may have been wrong, but is it truly right to wish harm upon someone and say that you’re doing it for the victims? As being a part of a tragic event I never would ever wish what had happened to me upon someone else, as I can say most people wouldn’t wish death upon someone to ‘make it right’.”
The Michigan-native told the website that she had been fired from her job.
“I’ve had voicemails where they want to slit my throat and they want to hang me and tear off my face,” she said.
“I’m just like, I don’t even know how to respond to this right now.”
Despite the backlash Lynch said that she never second-guessed her outfit.
“Honestly, it’s the Day of the Dead,” she told Buzzfeed.
“I wasn’t a dead person, I wasn’t being disrespectful. I was a survivor of a marathon. And it’s not like I was walking around with a fake leg or my arm torn off or something like that.”
