On May 22nd, 2017 disaster struck in the Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. It was 22:30, British summer time, as Grande’s album headliner Dangerous Woman came to a finish, a loud explosion went off. Many concert goers were in the lobby when it happened and were struck with terror. It was soon realized that a suicide bomber detonated an improvised device in the lobby of the arena. 23 adults died, including Salam Ramadan Abedia, the suicide bomber, were killed and 116 were injured. “Annoyed, upset, and disappointed is how I feel. The people were going to the concert for something fun, and then that had to happened.” sophomore Rachel Fedorko

“I think that it’s a tragedy. My heart goes out to the people who lost their lives and their families and especially Ariana Grande. She probably feels most responsible for what happened. It tears me apart inside because I know that Muslims will be blamed and will be put in even more heat that before.” said sophomore Ryan Couch

“[I am] So appalled I don’t even know how to fell. The people who would do that are soulless,” said Biology teacher Susan Braun. After the concert ended, many of the 21,000 people who attended the concert turned to social media platforms, such as Twitter, to spread the word of missing friends and family. Tweets were being retweeted by people all over the world to help find the missing, and it was a success in letting people know that some lost concertgoers were found.

The bomber was Salman Ramadan Abedi. He was a 22-year-old British Muslim who was born in Manchester in 1994. Soon after the bomb was detonated, Police did a search and found that it was an “improvised explosive device” which was filled with nuts and bolts to further harm any nearby concertgoers. Once the news was leaked, people immediately started relating the attack to the bombing that happened in Paris in November of 2016. “It’s sad. I just don’t understand why people can’t get along, and I don’t understand why people feel the need to do stuff like that for no reason,” said sophomore Loren Davis.

On May 26th, 2017 Grande released a lengthy statement on Instagram reaching out to all of her fans. “I’ll be returning to the incredibly brave city of Manchester to spend time with my fans and to have a benefit concert in honor of and to raise money for the victims and their families.” On June 4th, 2017 Grande will return to Manchester with other artists including Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell, Usher, and Niall Horan to perform in the Manchester Tribute Concert called One Love.  Grande has also released statements saying that she will pay for all of the victim’s funerals.