Wake Forest family witnessed London terror attack
WAKE FOREST, North Carolina (WTVD) -- A Wake Forest man who took his family to England last week, in part for a history lesson, instead watched history in the making.
Chris Walters owns Wake Forest Physical Therapy. That's where the physical therapist told ABC11 about his family's visit to London.
Wednesday morning the family crossed the same bridge where a terrorist mowed down people with his SUV before jumping out and attacking people with a knife.
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Walters said he, his wife, and his two daughters visited a museum, and when they walked out near Parliament, they soon heard gunshots and unusual sound in London where even many police officers don't carry firearms.
"We were walking back up the street towards Parliament and we were going to catch a bus there. We heard gunshots," Walters told ABC11. "There was a lot of commotion going on. A lot of police cars, ambulances started coming from all different directions. Then we heard helicopters coming in. One landed in the park straight across from where we were standing.
"And we could see where the terrorist's car had been, his SUV had been parked and apparently where he and the guard that he had killed or attacked. They were trying to resuscitate him right there on the sidewalk," he added.
Although Walters shot video of the commotion from a distance, few people knew at the time what exactly had gone down.
"It wasn't until later that when we heard what actually was going on, that we realized the full impact of what had happened and how close we were to where everything had just occurred and it was just a matter of timing," Walters said. "If we had been there two hours later or something we could have been walking across that bridge when it had occurred."
Walters said that in the days after the attack, getting back into the original spirit of the trip was difficult both emotionally and physically.
"If you ask my wife, she'll say it ruined our trip. She really wanted to go tour Westminster Abbey and they shut that whole area down for the next day or so," Walters said. "So we didn't get to go see it. And you kind of had to avoid it traffic-wise," Walters said.
The physical therapist said what was expected to be a memorable trip turned out to be incredible and indelible.
