“We thought it’s an ISIS attack because what’s happening in Mindanao,” she told TIME. Noreen Gonzales, 21, said she finished eating a meal at the complex just minutes before the attack, and thought it had come under assault from terrorists, describing the panic as terrifying.
“We didn’t know if there were bombs planted or armed men spread out,” she said, adding that she was first alerted to the trouble when a worried friend called her saying that he could see smoke billowing from Newport City from his apartment 7 kilometers away.
Newport City resident Roxanne Lu told TIME that she was advised by security officers to stay in her apartment and spent the night listening to sirens.
