A morning run by 75 recruits turns into horror: ‘It looked like an airplane wreck’
Sunday, May 2, 2010
by Chris D., Dallas
A photo of the victims of the morning run incident. Photo: Courtesy of Joe Mixon
I was on my route in North Dallas Park this morning when I heard a loud boom at least three minutes after the first 911 call. I had no idea what was going on, and was just sitting down on the grass when I heard another blast.
While the first responders ran over to me, I kept going, feeling a little odd. It was like somebody had taken a big knife to my chest and was stabbing me repeatedly.
Suddenly, I saw another kid running on a street corner. He was so out of breath, I thought he was out of breath running through traffic. I started running behind him, but he caught up soon enough.
As he reached me, I heard the third explosion. I knew it was the explosion that had killed the eight young men from the morning run at North Park. I realized as I looked at these boys that I would never be able to find the answers to such a huge tragedy.
As we stood for a moment, I looked at the sky, and I saw the fireball and then heard the explosion again.
I knew something terrible had happened, but couldn’t tell what.
Finally, I heard another explosion. I knew the third explosion had been in the sky, too.
The boys were part of a school project called “Operation School Run,” which is to run at the same time every day as part of a high school class.
Two of the boys on the run that morning were running with a friend of mine, and all of those boys are gone now.
There is one bright spot, though: the three police officers who were on patrol at the time will be treated for emotional and psychological
