TCU students with Massachusetts connections reacted in shock to the Boston Marathon bombing that took place Monday.
Chris Meyers, a sophomore strategic communication major, said he was worried when he heard his cousin was running the marathon when the bombing took place.
Meyer said his cousin wasn’t the type of person to run marathons much, and he was surprised to hear he joined the marathon to complete the last four miles.
“I’m not saying that this event is on the scale of 9/11 or the Newtown shootings, but it had a big impact on me because I had a family member there," he said. "It kind of hit home.”
Courtney Poey, a sophomore film major, spoke to her best friend, a student at Emerson College, right after the bombings. She told Poey she was walking not far from the marathon finish line when she heard the explosion.
“She texted me and my other best friend to tell us what happened and that Emerson was on lockdown. She said she would keep us updated. At that point, I think she was just confused,” Poey said.
Poey said after she received the text, she was worried and went online, watched the news and searched for all the information she could concerning the Boston Marathon bombing.
“I just finished a unit on 9/11 in one of my classes so this type of situation was fresh on my mind," she said. "I started thinking ‘What if they bomb her school?’”
Poey said she also started to wonder about the possibility of an incident similar to 9/11 occurring.
Brittany Pressley, a senior nursing major, said she found out what was happening from a friend attending college in Boston.
“My friend Jennifer goes to Boston University and tweeted what was happening,” she said.
Pressley said she thought the phone lines were down in Boston and couldn’t get in touch with her friend by any means besides Twitter.
She said her friend was a block away from the Boston Marathon finish line and became frightened when the explosion happened.
The Catholic Community also hosted a prayer vigil Monday night at Frog Fountain in light of the bombings.
