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Chaos: Attacks echo in tri-state
Everyone from suited executives to pizza delivery men
were slowed by extra security measures applied to visitors and
packages. Commuters wondered where to catch buses rerouted
away from Government Square because of its proximity to the
U.S. Courthouse. Many others juggled schedules tossed into
disarray by cancelled business, school events and travel plans,
while hundreds flocked to blood banks and sought other ways to
help victims.

And they prayed. “This is evil of a magnitude that we
really didn’t believe existed”, Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E.
Pilarczyk said after a packed noontime Mass at St. Louis Church
downtown.
Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken declared a state of
heightened alert- a step below a state of emergency-as the city
assigned extra patrols to guard the Water Works, utilities and City
Hall itself, where City Council meetings were canceled. Police
officers on horseback were stationed on Fountain Square, and
additional patrols were posted at major intersections.
“We’re prepared to the extent that we can be for whatever
might happen”, Luken said. However, the mayor stressed: “We
have not had any particular threats or particular reason for alarm in
Cincinnati”.
Federal buildings in downtown Cincinnati and Covington
closed in late morning and early afternoon, as did most of the
region’s shopping malls, including Kenwood Towne Center,
downtown Cincinnati’s Tower Place and Northern Kentucky’s
Florence and Crestview malls.
Dozens of other businesses also sent employees home
early, leaving many downtown Cincinnati streets nearly deserted
by afternoon rush hour. “It looks like a Sunday night- a quite
Sunday night”, Greg Riley said as he stepped onto an empty

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