King's College graduate in Paris details experience near concert hall shooting
'You could hear sirens going off,' says Casey Lynne Delaney
A graduate of Halifax's University of King's College stayed in her Paris apartment Friday night as hostages were held in a concert hall only an eight minute walk away.
"It's Friday night and so it's usually very loud," Casey Lynne Delaney, 29, said in a phone interview around 8 p.m. AT.
"I opened my windows... It was like nothing violent and then down a couple hundred metres or so, you could hear sirens going off."
'This is my neighbourhood'
France shut its borders and declared a state of emergency after 100 people were killed in a Paris concert hall where dozens were being held hostage as part of multiple deadly attacks around the French capital on Friday.
When Delaney called, hostages were being held in the Bataclan concert venue, which is close to her home, she said.
"A theatre's a place where you should feel safe," Delaney said. "It's very mind boggling."
The attacks have brought back memories of January's terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, she said.
"At least with Charlie, when that happened, I was underground in a studio on the other side of town," Delaney said. "It's very surreal."
Delaney, who graduated from King's in 2008, studies theatre in Paris. She first called her parents, who live in Florida. She also checked in on Facebook to alert her friends that she's safe.
"This is my neighbourhood," Delaney said.
Delaney says she often walks by the theatre on her way home and eats lunch at a nearby restaurant, Le Petit Cambodge.
"It's a real pity because it's very good," Delaney said, her voice cracking.
"It's very nice. It's not expensive. Everything I'm seeing about it right now [on the news], the death counts keep rising. You see glass showered."
While on the phone, Delaney opened her window again to listen.
"No more sirens, at least for now, which is a good thing," she said. "A little more quiet."