© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Metro Detroit residents react to Osama bin Laden's death

James Marvin Phelps
/
Flickr

Metro Detroiters are responding to the news that Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader behind the September 11th attacks, has been killed.

Reactions ranged from noisy celebrations, to avowals of renewed vigilance, to somber relief.

The Detroit Newsreports:

Kia Pavloff, whose husband, Thomas Pecorelli, was killed on American Airlines Flight 11 when it struck the North Tower was stunned by the news Sunday night. Pavloff — who lives in Birmingham with Nicholas, her 9-year-old son — said she choked back tears and had "so many mixed emotions" that she couldn't watch President Obama announce the news. "My emotions are very torn," she said. "It's been a long 10 years," Pavloff said. "At the end of the day it doesn't bring my husband back." News of bin Laden's death was marked by late-night fireworks in several area communities, including Grosse Pointe Woods and Pleasant Ridge. Across the United States, spontaneous demonstrations celebrating the actions of news broke out, including a large gathering at the site of the towers of the World Trade Center that were destroyed on September 11, 2001. Rep. Mike Rogers, who chairs the House's intelligence committee and has pushed for greater technological tools to track terrorists, said bin Laden's death does not mark the end of the larger effort. "The fight will go on," Rogers, R-Brighton, said in a statement. "We will not stop until al-Qaida has been eliminated."

Osama bin Laden was killed by a group of Navy SEALs in Pakistan on Sunday.

-Brian Short, Michigan Radio Newsroom

Related Content