"I was standing 20 yards away from the bomb when it went off, I was just inside the AT&T store and it went off literally two stores down outside the Marathon sports store.
I was actually standing EXACTLY where the bomb went off for 10 minutes just watching the marathon before I went into the AT&T store about 5 minutes before it went off. You couldn't hear the explosions so much as just feel them shaking you to your core. There was between 5 and 30 seconds between the explosions (I have no sense of time right now due to adrenaline) and black smoke started billowing down the streets.
I didn't actually see the bombs go off at the moment, but I saw people directly in front of me panic and start running the other way (I was right inside the AT&T store looking out the window, about 3 yards from the street).
I don't know a lot of information about the explosion or statistics about casualties, but it's been my first real near-death experience and my first emergency situation, so it's been insane to see how people react in emergencies. As soon as it went off dozens of people started packing into the store, and I was trying to calm people down to little avail, before police ordered us to evacuate because the explosion was so close.
I ran home, trying to avoid large pockets of people, because in the rush you had no idea if, where, or when another explosion would go off. I've taken a couple people into my house who ran the marathon and were cramping up/looked like they were about to collapse, and got an EMT responder in my house from the street to look after them too.
I went outside to give away blankets and bottles of water for about 10 minutes before police threatened to arrest me because of the apparent evacuation on my block- now I'm inside my house (hopefully safely) and am writing this.
It's a crazy world, sometimes, guys. Stay safe, and appreciate every day you have left to live. It could have been over before I knew it."
Papildināts no rīta. Te vēl viens aculiecinieka stāsts — no brīvprātīgā perspektīvas, fragments:
"Also - earlier a French-speaking runner came zooming by who hadn't understood what happened. Didn't realize he'd been diverted and was looking for the finish line and didn't see it so he kept running! Almost ran away over the Mass Pike! We (or rather, the bag guy next to me) had to chase after him and jump in front of him to stop him. He was so confused, poor guy."