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Kevin Pinto of Stamford cites his religious faith when he talks about the death of Osama bin Laden. "I don't feel we should be overly happy about it," the Norwalk Community College student said. "I mean of course, yes, he got what he deserved. But to rejoice about it so heavily, it's bad. I see that as kind of a sin. Yeah, he got what he deserved, don't go nuts about it."
NCC students were a bit low-key in their reactions to the announcement that the leader of al-Qaida had been killed nearly 10 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. One woman pumped her fist in celebration but then added she felt "a little peace, but now I'm scared."
"I wonder if it's true?" her younger friend asked. "How do you really believe it?"
An ex-Marine from Stamford said it was "big news," then he added that the celebration Pinto was talking about was "probably a release." The middle-age man said he was happy bin Laden was dead because some of the Port Authority police who died were his buddies. "He's getting his just desserts," he said. "He set this thing in motion."
Pinto said he was in fourth grade in 2001. "I was really sad," he said, "because one of my friends, her father died. I can't really recall her name because it's such a long time, but it's sad. I really empathize with people who lost that day."
A friend of his said she had also been in fourth grade when the attack happened and said her mother hadn't gotten the message that school had closed. "I waited for hours, wondering where she was."
She wasn't impressed that bin Laden had been killed. "OK, a guy died, that's it," she said. "The world is never going to be truly safe. Even with one terrorist gone, there's still thousands of other dangers."
"You never thought he would get caught," said Chris Jenkins of Stamford. "We waited so many years, it's a shock to see after a while."
"It's funny that they took this long to find him," said Shantel Morgan. "I guess they have places for him. That's his territory." Killing bin Laden "might be a bad thing," she said. "It depends on how they feel over there. We need to wait and see, and tighten up on our end."
"Better late than never," said Matt Rabert of Ridgefield, who said he was excited because he is in the National Guard.
"I think it's great," said Laury Poulard of Stamford. "But it'll stir up more. There's a bunch of bin Ladens out there. It doesn't start or end with him."
Tatiana Novarro of Norwalk said she was happy "in a sense." "This is what we wanted, right?" she said. "It's not going to make a difference. It will not bring the people back, and I don't think he's the only one."
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