When Cal High teacher Brian Coburn found himself amidst the chaos of a bomb blast at the Boston Marathon, he didn’t know what to do.

Coburn was about 100 yards away from the location of the first bomb when it exploded on April 15.

He found himself caught in the confusion of a throng of people attempting to get away from the explosion.

“The main thing that I was worried about was getting trampled,” said Coburn.  “It was remarkable to see how many people were running toward the blasts instead of away. All the police officers, and people concerned about others.”

Coburn was at the marathon supporting his wife, Leeann, as she ran to raise money for charity. She crossed the finish line 15 minutes before the bombs went off, yet the pair were unable to get in cell phone contact for several hours.

They weren’t alone.

Sophomore Lara Haller and senior Leonard Haller were also at the marathon to support their mother, who ran in the race, when the bombs went off.

“We heard a huge boom, and then thousands of people were completely silent,” said Lara.

Lara and her family had decided to wait in a family area, rather than join the crowd at the finish line, a decision that changed their lives and kept them out of harm’s way.

Their mother, Ming Kwan, was mere feet from the finish line when the first bomb went off.

“She said she saw bodies flying, and then there was just panic in the streets,” said Lara.

Minutes after Kwan witnessed the first bomb, she called her family to make sure they were safe.

“We tried to go to the finish line, but law enforcement kept pushing us back,” said Leonard. “I wanted to help so badly, but I couldn’t do anything.”

Although the Hallers were aware of the situation immediately after the bombing, many around them were not, creating a strange atmosphere among the crowd, as Lara described it.

“Half were smiling because they didn’t know what had happened, and half were crying, trying to find out what had happened to their family,” she said.

The Coburn and Haller families both returned to San Ramon safely within days of the bombings, before the shooting of an MIT resource officer and the lockdown of the city of Boston on April 19.

“Seeing my mom safe and sound, I was so relieved,” said Leonard.

The surviving suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been caught and charged with using a weapon of mass destruction that caused three deaths and more than 170 injuries, according to The New York Times.

His 26-year-old brother Tamerlan, was killed in an early morning firefight with law enforcement on April 19.

The brothers are allegedly responsible for the largest act of terrorism on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

“It’s not my place to say whether the older brother deserved to die, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” Leonard said, “but I hope his death and his brother’s arrest bring peace and security back to the people of Boston.”

Public response to the bombing has been mostly condemning the two brothers’ actions.

“You could never justify killing people,” Coburn said.  “Whatever reason they had won’t be a good one.”

Coburn is thankful both he and his wife are not hurt.

“A lot of people had it a lot worse than me,” Coburn said.  “There were people running for charity and good causes. People were representing the good things in society, and its hard to believe that someone would want to hurt them.”

The Hallers are also grateful to have returned safely, despite their mother’s proximity to the blasts.

“If she had been just a little faster, she could have been hit,” said Lara. “I was scared to death.”

Although Coburn and his wife are fine, Coburn said his ears didn’t stop ringing until several hours after the explosions. He said he will never forget what happened.

“It’s hard to say how it has affected me right now, but it has been a traumatic experience for sure,” Coburn said.  “You don’t want to let the sicko who did this dictate your life. I’d go and sit in those same stands next year, if she (Leeann) ran.”

Both families were examples of the many nationwide that were affected by the unexpected bombings in Boston, an event that some on the Internet are trying to exploit for popularity.

“It just makes me mad that people are making up stories when all those people are dead,” said Lara. “That could have been us.”