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Evans on Marathon emergency response: 'We felt it was personal'

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Boston's new police commissioner was running the Boston Marathon when twin bombs went off near the finish line in April 2013.

Bill Evans has run 44 marathons. The marathon on April 15, 2013 was his 18th in Boston.

Evans, then superintendent, turned around after crossing the finish line and went right back into what became the worst crime scene the city has seen.

FOX 25's Maria Stephanos joined Evans back where it all happened.

"I was hoping it was just a transformer fire," Evans told Maria. "When I went on the street and I saw the young victims on the street it all became real for me, probably the worst thing I've ever seen in my career."

Evans said one of his three children was at the finish line with his wife that day waiting for him to cross.

"That could've been anyone's family being there and my family has always been there for me and it was terrible seeing all those victims," Evans said.

Evans said all emergency responders were determined and running on adrenaline for the next few days.

"We felt it was personal," said Evans. "They had blown up our marathon, they had blown up our city and we were determined to find out who was responsible."

The commissioner went on to praise the residents of Boston and the men and women in the Boston Police Department. He said they didn't care how many hours they worked that week, they were determined to get those two suspects. Evans hopes finding them helped bring some kind of satisfaction to the families.