A snap decision to not check out the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday (April 15) may have saved the life of Squamish resident Scott Verbeek.
Verbeek attends Boston's Berklee College of Music and lives in the epicentre of all of the chaos from earlier this week.
The experience was pretty crazy for me, he told The Chief. I go to school a block away from where the bombs went off and I was actually watching the marathon about half a mile away from the finish. I thought about going to the end in Copley Square 10 minutes before the explosions. I decided for some reason that I didn't feel like walking all the way there. I'm grateful that I chose not to because I would have been there at the exact time most likely.
He said it was an emotional few days following the attack.
I was extremely sad to hear about all the people injured and killed that day, he said. Being so close to it makes the event seem more real and brought out more of my emotions. I am also grateful that all of my friends went unharmed during the attack.
As with other schools in the Boston area, Berklee was closed during the aftermath of the bombings. Verbeek said it was a strange experience to be in Boston during the uncertainty of the hunt for the suspects.
After the first attack we had school off and I saw a lot of crazy things in the city, he said. Helicopters were constantly hovering around, the SWAT team was driving around and many corners had policemen with very large guns on watch.
"Yesterday [Friday] was probably the most scary for me. I woke up in the morning to hear that the attackers were wreaking havoc in Watertown and MIT. There was also an explosive device that was dismantled a couple blocks away from my school and apartment yesterday morning. Because of the events the whole city was on lockdown. The streets were like a ghost town and it was very surreal to see the streets of downtown Boston completely empty.
Verbeek was in constant contact with his family in Squamish, letting them know he was doing fine with constant updates via text messages. After the authorities killed one suspect and captured the other, Verbeek said it was a huge relief.
I am thankful the whole catastrophe is over, he said. I can once again feel safe in my own apartment. Last night when the suspect was captured all of the college kids came out of their houses to have fun with each other. There were block parties, and the bars were packed.
Verbeek said he and his classmates will have a little extra homework this week but he will return to Squamish this summer and he hopes to put on a few performances when he's back in town. Check out his website, www.scottverbeekproject.com for more details.
The whole experience was extremely eye-opening for me, he added. I guess the main thing that I took from it was to appreciate everything in life because you never know what will happen next.
