THE DONEGAL man who lives next door to the house where the Boston bomb suspect was detained has told Donegal Daily: “It was terrifying.”
Carrigart man Brendan Toye, 33, revealed the first he knew that one of the Boston bombers was next door was when armed cops knocked on his door around 6.20pm (USA time).
Police said they exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, after cornering him next door to Brendan.
Brendan and his wife had been in a state of lockdown for a number of hours previously.
However they were under the impression that the suspect had been in a completely different area.
“We had been watching TV and we knew the bomber was in the area somewhere but we thought he was miles away.
“The last thing we expected was to get a knock on the door saying he was next door to us,” said Brendan.
The armed cop, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, calmly took Brendan’s child and told them to get out of the house immediately.
The policeman told Brendan they were not sure if the house next door or the boat had been booby-trapped or f the bomber was carrying explosives.
“I have to say I was shaking a little and my wife was absolutely terrified.
“We didn’t think this guy was anywhere near our house.
“We just grabbed our coats, put on our shoes and ran down the street. It was terrifying because for all we knew the house could have been blown up at any stage.
“There were people beckoning us in off the street and it was all very surreal.
“We went into a neighbour’s house and we stayed there.,” he said.
The Donegal man, who moved to America 12 years ago, then said he heard rapid gunfire about fifteen minutes later followed by a serious of controlled explosions.
He said they then heard loud applause after people realised the bomber had been caught.
As he was going back to his house Brendan then caught sight of the suspect being removed into an ambulance.
“He was covered in bandages and things and we could see he was moving so we knew he wasn’t dead,” he said.
Brendan, who is a carpenter by trade, only moved into his house in January.
His father traveled to America and spent a month helping Brendan to renovate the house.
He said he still hasn’t spoken to his next-door neighbour whose boat the terrorist was hiding in.
He said the last thing he expected was to be at the centre of one of the world’s biggest man-hunts.
“This is such a quiet area and we are really happy here.
“It certainly won’t put us off living in the area. It’s just one of those things.
“It could have happened anywhere but it just came to our doorstep.
“Trust an Irishman to be living next door to all this commotion,” he said.