So. Fla. Relatives Of 9/11 Victims Speak Out About Bin Laden Death
WEST PARK (CBS4) - The killing of Osama Bin Laden resonates with South Floridians who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.
John Napolitano lost his firefighter son when the World Trade Center twin towers collapsed.
"I have immense admiration for him, I knew he was thinking of his family," said Napolitano. "He was determined to save lives."
He says he felt relief when he heard Bin Laden was dead.
"I can never be happy, but I'm glad he's gone," said Napolitano. "I'm glad he is no longer a threat to someone else and I will be gladder when every Islamic terrorist is removed from the earth."
Broward County Fire Rescue sent 11 firefighters to help with relief efforts in New York City after the catastrophe.
Two of those firefighters, Captain Andy Berkowitz and Captain Walter Knapp, say they also felt relief when they heard Bin Laden was dead.
"Everybody was overwhelmed that day. No one is gonna forget September 11th," said Captain Knapp. Knapp lost 8 firefighter friends he had grown up with in New York.
"It hit me the sixth day we were up there when they posted the names on the wall and I saw the people I had grown up with had passed away," said Capt. Knapp. "I was happy he was captured. I have mixed emotions. I think he should have been brought to trial but its over.
"I'm proud of our military and I think myself and the rest of the firefighters will never forget. We put it on our vehicles and we will never forget about it," said Capt. Berkowitz.
When Miami Fire Lieutenant Charlie McDermott led an 80-person search team through the rubble of the fallen twin towers, his focus was not the terrorist who caused the tragedy.
"You understood what you're there for, we were there to recover hopefully live people," McDermott told CBS4's Natalia Zea.
Instead, the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team discovered the lifeless bodies of victims. But McDermott knew that with every body they discovered, a family's painful questions could be answered.
"Even if we would've only found one, it made a difference in that person's life. In that person's family's memories, in that person's family's closure," said McDermott.
The discovery of remains brought a greater sense of peace for family members like identical twins and CBS4 interns Lauren and Briana Grazioso.
"For so long my dad was like the only one, there's nothing? There was literally nothing they found of him, so after that it was, I guess relief isn't the right word, but it was exciting they actually found something of him," said Briana.
The twins lost both their father Timothy and their Uncle John at the World Trade Center. And, now that the man who killed them both is dead, the sisters have real closure.
"My mom woke up, called me and like freaked out, she was really excited," said Lauren.
"It's exciting, because finally in that way that part's coming to an end, I mean it's not bringing our father back, it's exciting in another way. It's not going to make anything better but it feels good to know that it's over," said Briana.
They didn't believe Bin Laden or al-Qaeda would ever be brought to justice.
"That was the worst part. Knowing it could still happen to other people and now that he's dead I think it actually did weaken them," said Lauren.
But Lt. McDermott worries that even though the leader is dead, his murderous mission lives on.
"So now in New York and the reflection of what's going on- you wonder, what's the next one?"
