By snoadmin
Update: According to CNN, one more death has been reported, making the total number of deaths three so far and more than 140 people are injured.
Cal State Long Beach sports management graduate student Gisele Schaaf sat alone in her hotel room located next to the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, where two explosive devices detonated just two hours before.
“Omg … I am watching the news … too much blood … they are saying the devices are ‘home grown,'” Schaaf said via Google’s chatting service.
At that point, all cell phone services were shut off to prevent remote detonation, she said.
“I’m scared to go outside,” she said after she heard news of the third explosion near the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which is located five miles from the finish line, at 1:30 p.m. PST.
According to CNN, two explosions shattered the finish line of the Boston Marathon around 11:45 a.m. PST. Two people have been reported dead and more than 130 have been injured, according to CNN.
A Running Experience Club, a Long Beach running club of which Schaaf is a member, participated in the race. To her knowledge, Schaaf said that most of the participating members, including Nadine Echeverry, Mistii Comeau, Diane Burgin, Karen Hester, Dona McBride, Frank Coleman, Kristen James, Steven B. Lee, Tara Tarmezy, Doug Freeman, Connie Garver and Karen Neuhaus, are safe.
Schaaf said that she heard about the explosions at noon PST when her friend Doug Atkin received a text message about the explosions.
“You can see the area outside of my hotel window, just a lot of people running around” Schaaf said. “There was also a helicopter hovering over for a while.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, several marathon participants were still running when the explosions occurred and were directed to a safe location. Two other devices were later found at the marathon but were dismantled.
CSULB alumna Kate Plourd, who moved to Boston seven years ago, also participated in the marathon and said that she was two blocks away from the initial explosions.
“I heard the loud noise,” she said. “It sounded like something big that fell over. It wasn’t communicated that it was an explosion.”
Plourd said she was sitting in a medical tent after feeling woozy from finishing the marathon when she heard about the incident.
“They wanted to clear out the beds. They were making announcements to the medical tents,” she said. “I was very worried because I just didn’t know where everyone was. I started crying in the medical tent. The people weren’t able to answer my questions.”
After a while, Plourd, who didn’t have her cell phone, said she was able to meet up with her friends and boyfriend, all of whom are safe.
“It’s still really fresh, and it’s shocking, but Boston is a really tough city,” she said. “Especially in the running community, people are so enthusiastic about it and supportive.”
Areas in California and across the nation have heightened security in response to the explosions, according to the LA Times. The Port of Long Beach has announced that it heightened security in response to the explosions at the Boston Marathon, Port of Long Beach Spokesman Lee Peterson said.
“It’s standard when these events happened to make sure you’re checking your own operations,” Peterson said. “This might be something more than an accident.”
Long Beach Police Sgt. Aaron Eaton said that the Long Beach Police Department is working with federal, state and local areas of security to keep citizens and security informed of the incident.
“At this point, there are no threats to the Grand Prix,” he said. “We want to partner with the community, if they see something, say something.”
CSULB students, like senior biochemistry major Donnella Cardwell, said that they found out about the news while on campus.
“I was in the [Nugget Grill and Pub], and I turned around, looked at the news and saw it,” she said. “I was in shock. No one expects that kind of thing to happen, and it kind of makes us scared to go outside.”
The Long Beach community is encouraged to call LBPD dispatch if they notice any suspicious activity, like off behavior or bags left behind, Eaton said.
Staff writers Andrew Spencer and Laura Tejero contributed to this report.
