By BU News Service Staff

Lisa Kashinsky, a student covering the marathon for BU News Service, was standing at a window in an apartment building behind the Prudential Center when she heard two back-to-back explosions. She immediately left and headed towards her apartment near Boston University.

“When I got to Kenmore, I saw a woman sitting on a bench trying to call someone on their cellphone, crying,” she said.

She was one of a team of reporters who were expecting a routine day coving a marathon and instead became a part of the story.

Standing at the window, she saw the response.

“I heard the second one and at that point I saw people running away from the Prudential Center food court,” she said. “I saw a couple runners on the track turn around and start running in the other direction.”

When she reached the ground, police were directing people away from the Prudential Center and surrounding buildings. While there was confusion, everyone remained notably orderly.

“No one was flat-out panicked running,” she said, “but they were worried and hurried. Lots of people were trying to use their cell phones but there wasn’t cell phone service.”

Kashinsky reports that text messages also wouldn’t go through immediately and that Green Line T services were shut down by the time she got to Kenmore Station.