Five days of “confusion” was the way Phil Richard described his impressions of Boston following a bombing that marred the city's famed marathon and a manhunt that put Beantown on lockdown.
Richard, 20, was born and raised in Olds and is in his third year of a music business and management program at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The school is just two blocks from the scene of the attack.
The Olds Albertan spoke to him this weekend at his home, just six blocks away from the site of the fatal April 15 bombings near the Boston Marathon's finish line.
On April 19, Richard told the Albertan he and most of the rest of Boston was under lockdown as police scoured the city for the surviving bombing suspect in a neighbourhood about 20 minutes from Richard's apartment.
“I've just kind of been sitting inside,” he said at the time. “We can't go to classes. There's quite a few blocks of the street that are just totally closed off to the public.”
Police had informed the college president of the lockdown and the school emailed its students, telling them to stay inside.
“It's definitely quiet. There's nobody outside at all,” Richard said, adding normally bustling businesses nearby were closed and dark during the lockdown.
Four days earlier, at the time of the bombings, Richard was on a train heading to a party to watch the marathon.
He learned of the attack from a man on the train who had just completed the race after the man's friend near the finish line phoned to say there had been explosions.
A short time later, the train stopped underground and when it resumed service after a few minutes, it quickly dropped passengers off between stations due to safety concerns, Richard said.
He was unable to return to his apartment due to police barricades and had to spend the day at a friend's house.
For the rest of the week and especially on April 19, the day after one of the bombing suspects was shot and killed by police, the city was filled with uncertainty, Richard said.
“For the last week, I've just been hearing ambulances and fire trucks and police cars like all day,” he said. “It's a lot of confusion and a lot of just being very cautious.”
But the confusion and chaos and empty streets came to an end late on April 19 after the second suspect was captured.
“Everybody just poured out onto the streets and it was just like a crazy celebration, riots and stuff,” Richard said, adding most of his neighbours were students and many of them were chanting “USA!” and singing the U.S. national anthem.
Richard said on April 21 he was expecting to return to classes, which had been cancelled while police sought out the bombing suspects, on April 22, and he was happy the city had calmed down.
“People are much more at ease,” he said. “I guess I'm at ease too. I wasn't too nervous throughout the week or anything but now I definitely feel safer.”
