A suicide bombing killed 22 people and wounded 59 in the Manchester Arena on May 22nd.

Children as young as 7-years-old traveled from close and far to see Ariana Grande perform in Manchester, England; however, the concert’s joyful atmosphere was destroyed within a matter of seconds just as the show was coming to an end.

Many of the pronounced dead were parents who were at the exit waiting to greet their children and take them home safely. Others included excited children who just finished attending their first ever concert; one of whom was an an 8-year-old described as a “beautiful little girl,” named Saffie Rose Roussos.

In New York City, many members of the iSchool community were well aware of the events that occurred in Manchester.

“I think it’s horrible because all the victims of the attack were innocent,” said Charmy Gnanapragasam, a sophomore at the iSchool. “Neither of them should have been at risk of such an attack. This attack is especially impactful to me, because the victims were my age, or younger, and were attending a concert of a singer that is very popular here in the U.S.”

The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in one post on social media that “one of the soldiers of the caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the crusaders in the city of Manchester.”

“I don’t understand why they would do such things,” said Asha Rossato-Bennett, a sophomore at the iSchool. “The victims were children. This shouldn’t be happening.”

Ms. Coughlin, an English teacher at the iSchool, believed that there is a fundamental reason why the extremist groups are executing these attacks.

“The lone attacker had links to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, two extremist groups who solely intend to inspire fear and terror all over the world. This fear not only came from the attacks themselves; but also from the fact that the attacker was born and raised in an English suburb.

They want to impose fear coming from within European borders.”