At least three people died Monday as two explosions rocked downtown Boston at the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.  An unnamed White House official told the Associated Press Monday night the attack is being treated as an act of terrorism.  

At 2:50 p.m., about 4 hours after the race began, two bombs went off near the finish line. As of press time, the blasts had killed three and injured 144, 17 critically, according to the AP. One of the confirmed dead was an 8-year-old boy. 

The images of the explosions, including a runner who lost both of his legs as a result of the blasts, dominated the airwaves throughout the afternoon and evening. 

According to CNN, at least 10 people lost their limbs in the incident. 

Three N.C. State students were among the nearly 27,000 runners who participated in the marathon.

Lauren Pilcher, a graduate student in English, was staying with a friend who lives in the Boston area to participate in the competition. She finished the race with a time of 3:21:37, crossing the finish line one hour before the explosions. Pilcher said she heard the blasts a block away from the finish line area. 

“I would say, by and large, it was a reaction as a whole that we heard the explosions, two really loud noises. We were like ‘What the heck was that?’ Everyone just kind of stopped in the street and we were stopped at an intersection when it happened,” Pilcher said. “Everyone just stopped and said ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’”

All of the runners are placed within a radius of a few blocks of the finish line after they’ve completed the race, according to Pilcher. 

“Where the bombs went off, all of the runners were kind of in the area. They kind of follow you around. So you’re all within that few block radius of that area. Even though you’re packed in there, you’re not right at the finish line.”

She left the area shortly after the explosions but didn’t comprehend the events until she stopped to get lunch across downtown Boston. 

“I was getting lunch and realized what had happened,” Pilcher said. “We were across the city. Runners and people that weren’t runners were kind of shocked.” 

Student Media confirmed at least three N.C. State students participated in the race. An additional two others match names in the University Directory.  All five finished within 30 minutes of each other.

Pilcher said she did not know any of the other runners from N.C. State, and each of them finishing within a short span of each other was purely coincidental. 

Pilcher said race officials did not approach her after the race.