City Councilor Mike Ross, a Mission Hill resident, said in a email last night that he was watching the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street yesterday when the bombs went off along that street.
“When the first of two explosions went off, I, like so many Bostonians, was along Boylston Street cheering on runners as they crossed the finish line on what is normally one of Boston’s most celebrated days of the year,” Ross wrote. “Thankfully, I am safe, but so many of our friends and neighbors are not. My heart is with the victims and the families of this tragic event. We are grateful to our City’s first responders and the everyday citizens who acted quickly and bravely to help.”
Frederick G.S. Clow, a Mission Hill photographer who often covers events for the Gazette, intended to be at the finish line but made a last-minute decision to photograph the runners in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner instead. After being there just a few minutes, Clow said, “The guy who owns the hardware store came running out and said, ‘They bombed the finish line.'” Clow said the news was hard to believe, but shortly afterward, “Sure enough, people were coming down the street crying.”