Delaware Valley Man Describes Surreal 'Shelter in Place' Experience in Boston
By Steve Tawa
BOSTON, Mass. (CBS) -- One Philadelphia area native was among the nearly million people locked down in and around Boston as police conducted the massive manhunt for one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Rob Axelrod, of Ambler, Pa., has been going to Boston for technology conferences for the last 14 years, and is thankful for his good fortune.
"This is the first year that we have not done the event at the Sheraton, which is exactly where the bombings occurred," he says.
He heard about the attack just as his Amtrak train was pulling into Boston on Monday afternoon. He presented a speech in Cambridge, but then woke up in his hotel on Friday morning to a city under siege.
"We had beefed up security at the hotel, and the mall that was attached to the hotel was shut down," he tells KYW Newsradio.
His round-trip Amtrak ticket was useless since train service in and out of Boston was suspended. So he grabbed a cab after officials allowed taxis to return to service.
"I'm taking the long cab ride out to Logan Airport to pick up a rental car, and then back to Philadelphia," he said.
Axelrod says it was a strange feeling to shelter in place in what would normally be a vibrant section of town.
