Mormon missionary injured in Brussels attack also stood near finish line during Boston Marathon bombing
March 23, 2016 in News by RBN Staff
NY Daily News | NANCY DILLON | Updated: Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 12:09 AM
Three years before his injuries in the Brussels terror attacks, Mormon missionary Mason Wells was waiting near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when two pressure cooker bombs exploded, the Daily News confirmed.
“He was a block away,” Bishop Scott Bond with the LDS Church in Sandy, Utah, told The News.
“It’s incredible he’d be so close to more than one of these,” Bond said. “I think any of us would be seriously shaken, but I think he’s someone who could handle this better than anybody. He’s the kind of young man to somehow turn this into a positive. He’s a terrific young man.”
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Mason Wells, 19, was with three fellow missionaries at the Brussels airport during the attacks Tuesday.
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Wells, 19, was with three fellow missionaries at the Brussels airport early Tuesday when blasts ripped through the busy European travel hub, killing more than a dozen people.
All four missionaries were injured, with Wells suffering burns and serious damage to one of his heels.
Wells also was in France, stationed at the Mormon mission there, during the Paris terror attacks last year, but he was a couple hours away from those massacres, Bond said.
“This is his third terrorist attack,” Wells’ dad Chad Wells told ABC News.
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“This is the third time that sadly in our society that we have a connection to a bomb blast,” he said. “We live in a dangerous world and not everyone is kind and loving.”
The concerned dad said his son was at the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013 because he was waiting for his mom Kymberly Wells, who was running in the race.
The mom told ABC that the blast shook her son’s body.
“Mason was very calm and composed,” she said.
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She later worried about her son after the Paris attacks, but he told her not to, she said.
“Mason has always assured us that he is safe and careful,” Kymberly told ABC. “I told him first and foremost always be aware of your surroundings, please be very careful when you’re traveling be very observant to people around you.”
The parents said they spoke to their son after the violence Tuesday and learned he was close enough to one of the blasts to get burned by it. He also suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon and shrapnel injuries, his parents said in a statemet.
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Mason Wells was at the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013 because he was waiting for his mom Kymberly Wells, who was running in the race.
“It’s a blessing from God he’s alive,” his dad told ABC.
“I think the Boston experience helped him to stay calm,” Chad Wells said.
He said Wells hoped to join the U.S. Naval Academy upon his return to the U.S.
“The way we get back on our feet after something like this happens is a true test of character,” Chad Wells said. “He was blessed significantly by God. We see a blessing by this, not a terrible curse.”
