Conn. Native Living In London Reacts To Attack

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Tina Gao reports

BOSTON (CBS) -- Connecticut native Katie Simon lives less than a mile away from the site of the latest terror attack in England on the London Bridge.

"It happened so close the Westminster attack in March and the Manchester attack weeks ago that it was like 'not again,'" Simon said to WBZ NewsRadio. "How many times is this going to happen?"

Simon was visiting a friend in East London on the night of the attack and was unsure whether she should even return home with her 10-week-old son that night.

"Aside from the concerns for ourselves, we have concerns for our children and what kind of environment that we brought our children into," she said.

For Simon, the location of the attack is nerve-wracking for more than one reason. Where the van first mounted the sidewalk is a bus stop Simon said she spent many late nights at. She also used to frequent one of the pubs that was targeted.

"I just feel very very vulnerable."

The London Bridge attack is the last straw for Simon, her British husband, and her son. She said her family no longer wants to live in a large city like London, though she loves it.

"I feel like you can't appreciate the world you live in, you can't appreciate the culture and all of the amenities that are available to you because people want to attack our way of life. It makes me very sad for my son because this is the kind of world I brought him into," Simon said.

She added, "We're second-guessing everybody and there's almost a level of justified paranoia and it's very sad."

Simon explained that she doesn't want her son to grow up in fear, though she pointed out that so many of terror attack victims are innocent bystanders.

"They're not speaking out against Islam they have not been criticizing the religion or anything they are just out on a night out and they're being made to pay the ultimate price."

While Simon said she may have had enough of the city life, English people as a whole are resilient.

"The British population in general, they have this amazing ability to just keep going and get on with their lives and they are more determined than ever," Simon said.