A car bomb triggered a massive evacuation of busy Times Square Saturday night.
"It's terrifying," said Christian Borgo, 32, of the upper West Side, who was shopping at the Swatch store across the street from the SUV when cops told people to move away fast.
"They said there might be a bomb and everyone had to go," he said. "There was smoke coming from the car. They were clearing out everyone. People were afraid. I'm still shaking."
"When I saw this happening I immediately thought, 'terrorism,'" said Marie Saint Claire, 52, vacationing from Switzerland. "It makes me scared to know how close I was to being blown up. This is life in New York now?"
Sharon Marques-Feinstein was on her way to see "Billy Elliot" when she was forced to clear out of Times Square.
"Whoever it was obviously wanted to kill people and inflict a lot of damage," she said. "If there was a timer, they knew what they were doing. This was a message, you know? I'm very afraid. You have to be vigilant now."
"It's like something out of one of those end of the world films," said Scott Dennis, 39, of midtown who was in a taxi heading home when police stopped the car and told them to turn around.
"Gasoline? Gunpowder? If that had blown here on a Saturday night, it would have been horrifying."
Brooklyn resident Celine Rapp was relaxing in the pedestrian plaza near the SUV when police cleared the area.
"I saw a bomb squad robot roll up to the SUV as well as guys in bomb squad gear investigating the trunk area," she said. "I am scared, but I'm thankful it didn't go off. There would have been more mass panic."
"I could have been past the SUV before the fire and thought nothing of it," said James Marion of London, who was admiring the bright lights of Times Square. "I could have been there at the wrong moment, so naturally it's rattling," he said.
"When I saw them going at it with the bomb-checking machine, I thought, 'My God, I was close to disaster.'"
Asif Chowdhury, 24, of Queens, was working at Juniors on 44th St. near Seventh Ave.
"At first it was just rumors that someone saw sparks coming from a black Nissan and someone running away from the car. But then we heard it was for real and the place closed pretty quick. We were all forced to evacuate."
Juan Garcia, 33, of the Bronx, was working on the stage door of the Marquis Theatre opposite the suspect vehicle at the time.
"I thought there was potential danger so I pulled a couple of street vendors into the stage door. We eventually evacuated through the Marriott hotel."
Angela Casey, 33, of Ohio was staying at the Marriott with her husband.
"They came by our door at 11:45 and said there's been a scare so please pack up our stuff," she said. "They're allowing people to stay on sixth or below, but we'd rather get out. It did make me nervous. I would like to get out of this area."
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