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A father waiting to pick up his daughters from Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert thought he was a “suicide bomber” when he first saw Salman Abedi at the scene, he said in an investigation into the attack.
Neil Hatfield said that “the alarm bells in my head went off immediately” when he noticed a young man carrying a bag containing something “solid as a rock.”
“I thought ‘suicide bomber’ right away, with very little doubt in my mind. My heart was racing. He looked like a terrorist, ”Hatfield said Monday. “I don’t know how to explain it, as a Bond villain. It was the bag, it was huge. “
After arriving to pick up his four daughters, Hatfield saw a young man sitting at the top of the steps leading to the raised mezzanine of the City Room lobby about 10 minutes before the blast at 10:31 PM on May 22, 2017.
Hatfield, described in the investigation as an “important witness,” added that he believed two security guards below were aware of the man and that “they were going to do something about it.”
“It gave me a bit of relief, but I was still looking at him. I looked into his eyes and could see that he was emotionally distressed, ”Hatfield said. “He looked scared, he didn’t seem right. My heart was racing faster and faster and I thought this guy was getting into position to do something right now.
“I thought to myself, if that’s a bomb, we were all dead, I really did. I thought he would get up, walk into the middle of the room and do what he did.
“I kept looking at the doors thinking the police were going to come in. I thought they would be there. I thought they would be at it. I really did.
“It was a horrible situation to be in, I felt desperate.”
Hatfield said he saw Abedi, head down, “trudging” through the crowd with the heavy bag. “I almost got a little relief, he’s not doing anything. Then there was a massive flash of light. “
