New Canaan Runner: 'You Could Definitely Tell That It Was a Bomb Blast'

New Canaan resident Michael Buscher had crossed the finish line in Monday’s Boston Marathon 15 minutes before the first explosion sounded three blocks away.

The 62-year-old is one of eight town residents who had registered to run in the marathon. The two bombs that exploded near the finish line injured 176 people—17 critically—and killed three, police said. The FBI has said there’s no imminent threat of another attack and it remains unclear whether the feds have a suspect in custody.

Buscher said he knew immediately that a bomb had gone off. "You could definitely tell that it was a bomb blast," said Buscher, who was in a family meet-up area at the time.

“As soon as the first bomb went off there were a couple of people who commented that it may be a transformer, that kind of thing, but then just 12 seconds later the second bomb went off and people realized it wasn’t a transformer or gas event,” Buscher recalled Wednesday from his office at MB Sport, a New Canaan-based, private-label apparel company that he owns.

“So people started to move quickly down the street away from the area where the bombs went off,” he said. “But people were still reasonably calm. There were couple of people who were obviously concerned.”

A New Canaan resident for 30 years, Buscher said his family is heavily involved in Darien nonprofit Person-to-Person, and that his wife and daughter both are active EMTs with New Canaan’s volunteer ambulance corps.

Monday’s was Buscher’s tenth marathon and second in Boston.

Asked whether Monday’s events would change how he approaches participation in the events in the future, Buscher said, “No, it won’t.”