Three people were killed and more than 180 were injured on Monday when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Harding alumna Tish Pace was among the 23,000 runners who participated in the marathon. Pace had completed the race when the two devices detonated at 2:50 p.m. near the row of international flags leading up to the finish line.
Pace said she was one block over, meeting up with friends and family when she heard the blasts. At first, Pace said she thought that maybe a car had backfired, but as the sound of sirens rang out through the city, she began to feel alarmed.
“We just had a good day, and we were exchanging stories and laughing and taking pictures,” Pace said. “And then we just kept hearing all of these sirens and it was like, ‘something is wrong, let’s get out, let’s go.'”
Pace first caught sight of something unusual as she and her friends made their way to the train station. Someone was lying in the back seat of a police car, she said, with his or her arm lying up by the window like they were hurt. Pace said she thought maybe someone had been injured at the finish, but after multiple police cars raced by, she realized something was seriously wrong.
That’s when a woman told her it was a bomb.
The first explosive was housed in a pressure cooker hidden in a backpack along the street, the Federal Bureau of Investigation determined Wednesday. The second bomb was reportedly also housed in a metal container, but as of Wednesday there was not enough evidence to conclude whether it was also placed inside of a pressure cooker.
Soon after the devices detonated, videos of the explosions at the marathon began surfacing. Pace said she immediately began receiving messages and voice mails from people already aware of what had happened.
“People knew in Searcy before we really knew,” Pace said. “I was getting texts from people that I am not really close to, like, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK? There’s blood and limbs everywhere at the finish, just tell me you’re not there.'”
At the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said it is still unknown whether the attack was planned and executed by a foreign or domestic terrorist organization or by an individual. However, as of Thursday, two possible suspects have been identified based on surveillance footage from local businesses and news station according to the New York Times.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, said on Wednesday that this attack will not intimidate Boston and he is hopeful the culprits will be brought to justice.
