Paris attacks hit close to home for Anchorage woman with family ties

The world watched in horror today as the attack in Paris seemed to get worse by the hour. For one Anchorage woman, it hits close to home.

“Yeah, we just got back Monday night from Paris. We were going to see my family I have relatives over there,” said Caroline Miller.

She’s a dual U.S. and French citizen. From her home in East Anchorage, she’s keeping in touch with her cousins on Facebook.

Paris attacks Facebook safety check
A screen capture of Facebook’s safety check for the Paris attacks.

“So far everybody’s OK. One is hunkered down in a restaurant near where some of this is happening. One is out in the suburbs but she has a lot of friends who are actually being held in the Bataclan, in the nightclub there,” Miller said.

Miller lived in Paris in the ’80s and ’90s and she’s been to that nightclub. She spoke to APRN Friday afternoon, while the siege was still underway. Later, Miller said her cousin was posting about friends who were at the hospital with gunshot wounds and others not accounted for.

“Obviously everybody is just sick about it over there. And worried.”

Miller was in contact with another cousin while he was holed up at a restaurant in Les Halles, near the 10th arrondissement, where at least 11 people were killed.

“I said, ‘Go home!’ He said, ‘No, I feel safer here right now.’ I think that they kind of just don’t even want to get out, because who knows what could happen next.”

Miller said she and her husband are now reviewing their time in Paris, thinking about the spots where they were vulnerable. Mostly, she said, they just feel awful, as heartbroken as everyone else, whether they’ve been to Paris or not.

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