A New Westminster city councillor was amazed by New York City’s resilience to Tuesday’s terrorist attack.
New West residents Chuck Puchmayr and Amber Anderson arrived in New York City on Tuesday morning for their vacation in the Big Apple. Later that day, eight people were dead, after a suspect drove a rental truck onto a bike-only path in lower Manhattan.
“We had just left our hotel and walked up the street. Amber got a Google alert of a terrorist incident. There were a couple of police officers already standing at the corner,” Puchmayr said. “It had just happened. They were already out in force.”
The couple, who are staying not far from where the attack occurred, were leaving their hotel and debating whether to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge or head downtown when they learned about the terrorist attack. While there was a “very high police presence” in Manhattan, Puchmayr said there were no other signs of the attack.
“The people are so resilient. It is unbelievable. Other than two police officers on each corner last night in Manhattan, one with a shotgun, just in case anyone tried ramming into those massive crowds, people were walking by in their Halloween costumes and getting ready to enjoy their festivities in the evening. The theatres were lined up, people coming in to get their tickets, people with their Rangers jerseys were coming out of the hockey game,” he told the Record Wednesday. “It was as if there was no impact. I am sure internally there is some concern, but most of them were freely going about their everyday business as if nothing had happened.”
