When two explosions rocked downtown Boston Monday afternoon, Waldoboro native Robert Gomez had already finished the famed Boston Marathon and was with some of his friends about a thousand feet away in the Prudential Center.
“It shook the Prudential Center enough that people were panicking and running out of the building,” Gomez said.
Gomez and his friends also left the Center, because it wasn’t clear what had happened and whether the incident was inside the building. Outside, the streets were filled with confused people, he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people were in the area because of the Boston Marathon and the Red Sox game was just letting out when the explosions occurred, Gomez said.
“It really made for a very confusing and hectic scene when the explosions went off,” he said. “Thankfully myself and my friends were nowhere near the blast.”
Police were immediately on the scene since there was a large presence already there for security at the marathon, and fire trucks and ambulances arrived quickly, he said.
“From what I saw the response was very fast and was very strong from the local authorities,” Gomez said.
For about half an hour, many people around but outside the immediate area of the finish line on Boylston Street did not know what had happened, he said. Based on the response of emergency vehicles, people were able to determine where the explosions had occurred.
“There were ambulances as far as the eye could see on Huntington Avenue and right outside the Prudential Center,” some of which unable to get down to the scene at the finish line because of the amount of structures set up in the area, Gomez said.
Immediately the focus was on the small area around the finish line, but because authorities had found a couple of other devices that were not yet detonated, they ended up shutting down a larger radius to foot and vehicle traffic
When Gomez tried to leave his hotel this evening to head home to Maine, he had to exit the rear of the building because the front exit had been locked down. Other hotels were under complete lock down, he said.
“It put a lot of places on high alert. I think it put everyone on edge because no one knew if it was part of a more widely coordinated series of attacks,” he said.
The response by authorities and volunteers was a tribute to their selflessness and willingness to contribute on the spot, Gomez said. “There’s really been an immense outpouring of support for people down in that area and there’s been a lot of commendation for the authorities that responded to it.”
“I’m just happy that I’m okay, any my friends and my family are okay,” said Gomez on his return trip to his current home in Saco. Gomez placed 32 overall in the marathon, with a time of 2:22:53, according to the Boston Athletic Association’s website. The time was a personal best, but was of little importance compared to the tragedy that occurred, he said.
“I certainly hope, and I’m sure a lot of other people hope, this doesn’t tarnish the reputation of the marathon because it’s a historic and wonderful event,” he said.
Emergency personnel were still on scene at the location of the bombing at the time of this posting, and are expected to remain there for some time as rescue and recovery efforts begin to wind down and a full-scale investigation of the crime scene continues. There were three fatalities and over 125 injured as a result of two blasts from separate bombs timed to go off in the same area about 15 seconds apart, according to media reports.
There were no runners entered in the Boston Marathon from Lincoln County, according to the Boston Marathon website.
The Lincoln County News will continue to follow local developments on this story and post any additional information here as soon as it is obtained. A full report will be included in the next print and e-editions of The Lincoln County News.