Resident Walks Away from Second Bomb Site Five Minutes Before Explosion

Resident Michelle Kramer hasn't been to the Boston Marathon in years, but had several reasons to go on Monday. To cheer on runners she knew, Kramer was standing right were the second bomb went off. She walked away from that spot five minutes before the explosion.

Kramer went to the marathon to support her niece and her niece's boyfriend. As the co-chair for the Girl Scout Fund Development Committee, Kramer also wanted to be at the marathon for those who were running to support the Girl Scouts.

“It was the perfect year to go,” she said.

She went into the city with her husband, and thought it was their lucky day when they found a front row parking spot at Wellington Station around 1:30 in the afternoon.

She didn't realize quite how lucky she was until hours later.

Once they got into the Back Bay and close to the finish line, they found a spot standing behind two little kids and their grandmother who had been there since 10 a.m. to secure a spot in front of the crowd.

Kramer and her husband helped the kids track their father, who was running the marathon. The kids were able to see their father run by about five minutes later and to show their gratitude, offered Kramer and her husband the front row spot.

Five minutes later, Kramer watched her niece run by. She then offered her front row spot to someone else and she and her husband walked through an alley and behind buildings to avoid the crowds.

The bomb went off five minutes later. They heard both explosions and saw people running everywhere, she said.

Heading away from the smoke, she encountered a woman who started to collapse. The woman's children and husband were standing near the finish line and she couldn't get in touch with them. It turned out that they were okay, but the shock of it all was too much for the woman.

"It was so surreal," Kramer told Patch. "We were right there, sirens were coming from everywhere. People were trying to get the kids away so they didn’t see anything."

She saw a lot of men in uniform and a lot of confusion. She noticed an officer wearing a bullet proof vest and immediately didn’t feel safe because she wasn't wearing one.

"I'm not used to walking down the sidewalk and having six guys standing in front of me with M16 rifles," she said. "That’s just not the country that you think you live in.”

Kramer's son sent her a text message asking her to leave the city. He told her that the situation was really bad and that the news had showed images of body parts. She wanted to leave the city, but at the same time wanted to help people, especially her niece, she explained.

She was reunited with her niece, but her niece's boyfriend was an hour behind in the marathon. That was when the confusion started for them, she explained. Kramer's niece was emotional, as she was 100 feet over the finish line when the explosions happened and still not reunited with her boyfriend.

They walked all over the city trying to find him. He finally returned around 7 p.m. He walked most of the way back to the city and was offered a ride the rest of the way.

"What little angel was sitting on our shoulder that day?" Kramer wonders.