A former Gainesville woman was in England last week when a suicide bomber struck a concert hall, killing 22 and injuring 59.
Debbie Brown Wilburn, who now lives in Roswell, is a retired University of Georgia Extension Hall County Agent.
"We found out about the bombing within several hours from the internet," Wilburn wrote in an email last week from England. "We felt a deep sadness for the lives lost of so many young people. It was such a senseless killing. People here were of course shocked and upset, even more so since so many children were injured and killed. The newspapers were filled with their photos and stories."
Wilburn went on to say there had been "little change" as far as security in the small villages but today (Thursday) in the much larger city of Oxford "we did see quite a number of police officers. People do not seem on high alert and are going on as normal. We have not felt afraid at any time."
Also Thursday, she said, at 11:00 the shops and offices in the train station in Oxford closed for a moment of silence and remembrance.
Wilburn has not been to Manchester on this trip to England but said she was there about three years ago and has heard from a friend, Katherine Mills, who grew up in the Manchester area and now lives in the southwest part of England.
"I feel heartbroken that terrorists think a concert full of children and teenagers is a suitable place to target," Mills wrote Wilburn in an e-mail, "but I guess evil knows no bounds and their intention is to scare us, to stop us trying to live our lives, to make us fearful. But look at the turnout to the vigil in the centre of Manchester only one day later. The terrorists won't win. For every terrorist there are hundreds of heroes; homeless men who run toward the explosion to help."
She also praised "our amazing emergency services who step up and work through their shift and into the next. It hurts because it is my home town, but I felt as much for the attacks in France, the US and anywhere else in the world, including the atrocities in Syria. Everybody counts. I believe that."
Mills went on to say "these evil people aren't true Muslims they are just using religion and politics as an excuse. I believe the UK security is doing everything it can and always has been. For one horrific act that slips through the net, goodness knows how many they are stopping on a daily basis. We live in a scary world right now. I just hope we can make it a better place and not a worse one!"
Wilburn concurred with her British friend, adding "It is still hard to believe this happened and why they would target children and their parents."
Meanwhile, police made two more arrests in Manchester on Saturday on suspicion of terrorism offenses, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 11. All are men, aged between 18 and 44. In addition, the bomber's father and younger brother are in detention in Libya.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
