From shock to sorrow, Ottawa residents react to Barcelona van attack
Ottawa residents with connections to Barcelona are reacting with sorrow and anger after a van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians Thursday morning, killing 14 people and injuring more than 100.
Daniele Manrique told CBC News that after the terror attack, she frantically tried to get in touch with her cousin, who lives in the Spanish city.
Manrique said he was in "lockdown" and couldn't go to work.
"He's terrified, of course. He never expected this to happen," said Manrique, who owns the Spanish-inspired Soca Kitchen. "His friends are OK, he's OK, thank God. But our hearts break for those families."
A taxi driver who witnessed the attack in the popular Las Ramblas area said a white van suddenly jumped the curb and sped down the central pedestrian area at high speed, veering from side to side as it targeted people.
Two people were arrested shortly after the attack — a Moroccan and a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa — but neither of them was believed to be the driver of the van, said Josep Lluis Trapero, head of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalonian police force, at a news conference late Thursday.
A third suspect was arrested Friday in the northern town of Ripoll, where one of the two detained on Thursday had also been nabbed. The third arrest was made in Alcanar, where a gas explosion in a house was being investigated, authorities said. No further details were provided.
University of Ottawa student Pablo Castello Oliva had been visiting Barcelona and had just landed back in Canada when he got a text message alerting him to the attack.
"My first reaction was, what occurred? [Who was] attacking my city? How could I not know?" said Castello Oliva, who was born in Barcelona.
While his friends and family are unharmed, Castello Oliva said he worried about the greater impact Thursday's terror attack would have on his hometown.
"It's going to discourage tourists from coming," he said.
'It won't stop me'
As for Manrique, she said she felt a combination of shock, anger and sadness after Thursday's attack, but vowed that it wouldn't stop her from returning to the city.
"Barcelona, especially Las Ramblas, it's such a beautiful place, full of joy, fun, culture. Everything that I love about Spain is kind of concentrated here," Manrique said.
"It won't stop me from going there. I love Barcelona. It always has a little special part in my heart, that place, just because of all the inspiration it's given me for my life and my restaurant."
ISIS claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack, saying in a statement on its Aamaq news agency that the attack was carried out by "soldiers of the Islamic State" in response to the extremist group's calls for followers to target countries participating in the coalition trying to drive it from Syria and Iraq.
