Terrorist attack touches lives of Yuma's former New Yorkers

Susan Osuna sat glued to the television watching the horrible events unfold Tuesday morning.

“It's all so scary, and I'm still in a state of shock,” she said.

Osuna works as an ad designer for The Sun, and moved to Yuma in January.

She lived in New York for five years and called the attacks frightening. Osuna still has several friends in New York, including one who is a lawyer with offices in the Trade Center, and was immediately worried about their safety.

“I'm hoping everybody is all right. I tried calling her this morning, but couldn't get through,” Osuna said.

Osuna said she would try sending e-mails later on Tuesday night in an effort to reach one of her friends.

She said the first thoughts that crossed her mind when she turned on her television and started watching the live coverage was just how unreal it all seemed.

“I'm thinking this can't be happening, and I want to go back to bed and get up again and maybe this won't be happening,” she said.

Howie Perl, a copy editor for The Sun, and also a native of New York, said the assault left him more angry than shocked.

Perl, who moved to Yuma from the Bronx less than three months ago, said to think the Trade Center has been completely destroyed is unbelievable.

Living only a 30-minute train trip away from Manhattan, Perl remembers the 1993 car bombings, the first time the buildings were the target of terrorist attacks.

“There was this sense that because the buildings were still standing, everybody thought it was something that could never happen again,” he said.

Cynthia Marshall, The Sun's personnel director, lived in Manhattan for 13 years. She was to fly from Los Angeles to New York Tuesday morning to visit her dying father.

Marshall said although her flight was grounded and Los Angeles International Airport closed while she was there, her brother-in-law, who was flying to New York from Orlando, Fla., saw the results of the terrorist attacks firsthand.

“What he must have seen was unimaginable,” she said. “I talked to my sister and she told me he flew over the Pentagon and saw it in flames along with the towers burning.”

Marshall had to rent a car and drive back to Yuma from Los Angeles. She said she listened to coverage of the attacks. It was until she saw actual footage of them that it finally hit her.

“It is a terrible tragedy. I was so overcome with emotion that I just sat there and cried,” she said.