Manhattan high schoolers feel the impact of terrorist attack

A few weeks after the horrific terrorist attack in Manhattan left 8 dead, a dozen injured, and countless in shock; the community is still feeling the impact. It was the afternoon of October 31 when the streets of Manhattan turned to chaos after a driver, identified as 29 year old Uzbeki immigrant Sayfullo Habibullaevich Saipov, drove his pickup truck through a crowd of people, only coming to a stop after plowing into a school bus. Fatalities included two Americans, 1 Belgian, and 5 Argentinians.
After what has been called the worst terror incident in New York City since the events of September 11, 2001, Saipov was shot in the abdomen following a police chase. He is currently awaiting trial for multiple charges including destruction of a motor vehicle and providing material support for a terrorist organization.
The shooting took place right outside of one of New York City’s top public schools, Stuyvesant High School, ensuing a lockdown that lasted hours and panic among the students.
Olivia Raykhman, a freshman at Stuyvesant, was spending time with friends after school ended when all of a sudden chaos erupted around them.
Raykhman reports that “First, all I heard were the screams of little kids, but after a few moments someone shouted about a guy having a gun and my friends and I just started running.” She heard 5 clear gunshots before ducking into a nearby hotel.
“When we got inside that hotel I immediately checked everyone around me for any gunshot wounds,” Rahkman said, “At first it was only around 15 people hiding in this closed off part of the hotel but it grew to about 100 very quickly.”
Raykhman, along with the dozens of people in the hotel, hid inside for some time before they finally felt it was safe enough to leave. After this, Raykhman ventured back to her high school only to find it in lockdown. Along the way she saw the school bus that was smashed into, along with countless other awful scenes. This past week has been a tough one for the students of Stuyvesant High. The following day all the students came together and wore black, supporting each other in these tough times.
Raykhman stated that, “The atmosphere this past week has been heavy, like a dark cloud hanging over all of us.”