Manchester Bombing Witness: ‘We Initially Thought It Was a Terrorist Attack’

EXCERPT:

PAWLEY: "We were coming out of the arena just before Ariana finished the last song trying to beat the rush, we came out a few minutes early. We came just out of where the box office is in the arena and then you go into the train station. As we get to the top of the steps, we heard the biggest explosion, and it was literally about 20 meters from where we stood. Everybody started panicking. We initially thought it was a terrorist attack because that’s just what you think because of what’s going on. We ran down the stairs and then started to head for the door. Before we got to the door, we hesitated because of past things we’d seen, we thought they’d normally set the bomb off and then wait for people to rush, so we stopped. As we stopped, we got told to leave. People were screaming and shouting and it was the worst experience ever.”