Brussels Terror Attacks Hit Close To Home For North Texans
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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) – The news of the attacks in Brussels quickly spread concern within the small Belgium community in North Texas.
Ingrid Bleys, a native of Belgium who owns the Millstone Bakery in Plano said she immediately called her family to make sure they were okay.
"It's very painful, because the fights are going on in Paris. It's going on everywhere in Belgium. It's here in California. It's very painful to hear that," said Bleys.
The attacks hit close to home for another North Texan, too.
Grand Prairie resident Rocky Gathright narrowly escaped Tuesday's blasts that killed dozens and injured many more at the Brussels airport.
Gathright had just dropped a friend off at the airport and was pulling out of a drop off zone when the explosions happened.
Through a Skype interview Gathright said, "I looked at the people's faces and then I realized from the people's faces that it must have been a bomb."
He said as the masses of injured people came running out of the airport he began tending to some of the wounded.
"People were still pouring out of the building. I just began to help people. A lot of people had blood on their clothes," said Gathright.
He was living in Brussels and working as a minister with dozens of churches there. Now more than ever the country needs the support from people across the globe, according to Gathright.
"Just pray for Brussels, pray for Belgium," he said.
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