Former UW-Milwaukee student in Barcelona says terror attack 'truly shakes you'

When Sam Barreto moved to Barcelona from Milwaukee a year ago, he never thought that the lively and beautiful city he now calls home would be the place where he would experience a terror attack.

Just after 5 p.m. Thursday in Barcelona, a white van drove through a pedestrian walkway in one of the busiest areas of the city, killing more than a dozen people and injuring more than 100 in a terror attack claimed by ISIS.

Barreto was getting off a bus so he could work out at a gym that is three blocks from where the attack occurred. 

"I start walking towards the gym and then I hear a bunch of screaming, just screaming everywhere," he said. "I walk a little closer to the main square and I see people running everywhere. I froze for a second and then started running also. I didn't even know what was going on."

It was not until a few blocks of running with the crowd, in the opposite direction of speeding police cars and ambulances, that Barreto thought it was safe to stop and asked someone what had happened. 

"There was an attack," they told me. "And my first thought was, 'Not here; this place is so safe.' "

The attack happened at La Rambla, a tourist destination that runs through the heart of downtown. 

"It's my favorite spot to go on Sundays; I go there almost every weekend," he said. 

The street is especially accessible to pedestrians because of a large walkway that runs through the middle of the street. Barcelona's tourism website says nearly everyone who visits the city walks along it.

"This was blocks away from my home and in a place I frequent. It truly shakes you to know that someone broke your comfort zone and shattered the place you considered safe," he said. 

Barreto moved to Wisconsin at age 14 to attend high school at Luther Preparatory School in Watertown. He stayed in the state an additional six years and briefly attended Wisconsin Lutheran College and then the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he was active in student government and the Sigma Chi fraternity. 

He was born in Colombia, a country that experienced a nearly 50-year civil war beginning in the 1960s, so he has witnessed scary situations before, but he considers Thursday's attack the most terrifying.  

"Growing up in a country with an ongoing civil war changes you, but experiencing a terrorist attack in a developed and free country is truly terrifying," he said. 

Barreto spoke to the Journal Sentinel around midnight in Barcelona time and said the initial fear of the attack had passed, but everything throughout the downtown area was closed and silent. 

"I usually don't go to bed this early, but tonight I just want to go to bed and rest and see what happens tomorrow."