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Jack Grandcolas, husband of Lauren Grandcolas, who was a passenger on United Flight No. 93.

Jack Grandcolas’ wife, Lauren, was three months pregnant when she perished on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. On Sunday, Grandcolas was finishing dinner at his home in San Rafael when he heard that the man who masterminded her murder had been killed.

“It’s kind of a shock, almost like what happened on Sept. 11,” he said in an interview shortly after President Barack Obama confirmed that Osama bin Laden was dead. “It’s another surreal hit to the gut, that the person that killed so many people, including my wife and unborn son, is now meeting his justice.”

“I’m sad it took this long, personally,” Grandcolas continued. “I know it’s going to be more symbolic because terrorism is not going away, but I hope that the symbolism is a beacon for generations to realize that we don’t need to kill each other out of hate, because hatred caused all this.”

The reaction around the Bay Area to Bin Laden’s death was swift Sunday, as it was throughout the world. The news was especially jolting to the relatives and friends of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, including those connected to Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa., en route from Newark to San Francisco.

Unlike the spontaneous celebrations that broke out at the White House, Ground Zero and in other cities, San Francisco was strangely quiet Sunday night. To an event that some celebrants were comparing to VJ Day, there were few visible signs of reaction in locations such as the Mission District, the Civic Center, the Haight and the Castro.

Osama Bin Laden

San Francisco police nevertheless said they were dispatching additional personnel to transit areas and religious establishments throughout the city. Officers were told to be on the look out for gatherings, celebrations and protests in reactions to bin Laden's death. Local police said they were in touch with federal officials to monitor security changes. 

Grandcolas, a 48-year-old social media entrepreneur, said he bowed his head when he heard that Bin Laden was dead “and honored Lauren and my unborn child and those killed that day. I worry a little bit about the euphoria getting out of control. This should be a solemn moment. We shouldn’t glorify the death of man who was like a Hitler.”

Other people connected to the attacks also described themselves as grappling with the news.

Keith Bradkowski's partner, Jeff Collman, was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to crash into the north tower of the World Trade Center. At the time of Collman's death, the couple lived in Novato. Bradkowski, who has not lived in the Bay Area in five years, moved this week to Seattle.

"I was totally shocked and unprepared,” Bradkowski said. “There are actually fireworks going off here. It's very emotional for me. Composing myself, all I can say is that I'm extremely grateful to the men and women of our armed forces, whose courage and commitment never wavered in bringing bin Laden to justice.”

Carole O’Hare’s mother, Hilda Marcin, 79, was also on United Flight 93. O’Hare, of Danvile, said that as she waited for Obama’s announcement, “I was afraid that he had died of natural causes, but I was happy that it was Americans that did it. It's something that we've been trying to do for a long time and it's about time."

The president directed some of his most emotional remarks to the families of the victims. After recounting the images of 9/11 — the crumbling of the Twin Towers, the smoldering Pentagon, Obama said:

“And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.”