The killing of Osama bin Laden caught Carolinians off guard. For those touched directly by the Sept. 11 attacks, the reactions to the news were often visceral - personal. Here are several, told in their own words to Observer staff writers David Perlmutt and Steve Lyttle. Two responded to the Observer's Public Insight Network, a group of readers that offer knowledge and insight for stories.

Kara Walker, Waxhaw

Walker's brother, Steven Coakley, was a firefighter on Brooklyn's Engine 217 when he was killed at the World Trade Center helping with the rescue. Walker set up the Firefighter Steven Coakley Foundation to honor her brother. Monday, she helped run a scheduled golf tournament at Olde Sycamore Golf Plantation in Mint Hill to raise money for the foundation. Four of Coakley's colleagues from Engine 217 made the trip to play.

The men from Steve's engine company were at my house Sunday night, when they got a text from another fireman in New York that bin Laden had been found and killed. They were all there at the World Trade Center that day, on 9-11. One of them drove the truck.

Happy doesn't quite describe the reaction. The first reaction was disbelief. It's been so long and it was just so sudden. Then there was relief, a little closure. And finally a good feeling that the mission that we set out to do - get bin Laden - was accomplished.

There were no cheers. We had a beverage, or two. I thought of Steven, all those people who were lost on that day. I wear my brother's (firefighter) Maltese cross around my neck. And when I think of him, I rub it. I rubbed it last night.

This is our eighth golf tournament, and the news makes this one special. Our main goal is to never forget our loss.

Bill Jacobsen,

Charlotte

Because of the 9-11 attacks, Jacobsen's son, Bill Jr., decided to re-enlist in the Army after having already served for four years. On Dec. 21, 2004, Bill Jr., a company commander and father of four, was killed in Mosul, Iraq, by a suicide bomber.

I was at the Siskey YMCA at 5:15 (Monday morning) when I put on a headset and saw the news on TV. Usually I watch "SportsCenter" (on ESPN), but I saw one of the other TVs with the news that Osama bin Laden had been found and killed.

I got home at 6:45 and woke up my wife to tell her the news. I know that someone else will take his place and I know that there will be some sort of retaliation. We need to continue the effort to combat terrorism around the world.

It's too bad it took us 91/2 years to find bin Laden. But I'm glad we didn't give up our pursuit of him. Obviously we lost our son as a result of this. But I think also of all the people we lost in the World Trade Center and Pentagon and all the soldiers we lost fighting through the years. And of course, all the families who have suffered, and continue to suffer.

I don't know that this brings us any closure. I continue to see my grandchildren having to grow up without their father.

Doug Schroeder, Charlotte

His mother, Ruth Lapin, worked in the south tower at the World Trade Center and was killed in the 9-11 attacks.

I've had some very mixed emotional reactions to the news about bin Laden. I anticipated being much more relieved when we finally captured or killed him. But when I heard about the spontaneous celebrations, it just didn't feel right to me. I can't bring myself to be "happy" about somebody being killed.

I think he was an evil man, and I definitely wanted him brought to justice. But this is not some panacea that brings the war on terror to a close. We're still in wars in two countries, we have servicemen and women spread thin without a clear mission, and we have not implemented many of the key recommendations from the 9-11 Commission.

My experience with 9-11 and its aftermath has always been on two different levels. One is a personal tragedy. My mother was murdered. The other is as a citizen, and as someone who had served in the U.S. Army Reserves.

My reaction to today is to keep my head down, and to pray for my mother and all of the other souls lost. Our country really came together in the immediate aftermath. Of the attack almost 10 years ago. Maybe there is some way that we can find enough strength, understanding and patriotism to come together again.

Hannah Hindel, Williamstown, Mass.

Hindel, 20, was a fifth-grader at Elizabeth Lane Elementary in Charlotte on 9-11. A Myers Park High graduate, she is finishing her sophomore year at Williams College.

I grew up equating Osama bin Laden's name with evil because of his role in 9-11. Now that he's been killed, I have mixed feelings about the news. I'm glad he's been found, but I think the potential for excessive celebration is very high - and alarming.

I think the American people would have loved to see this horrible man answer for his crimes in a more judicial way. I don't feel comfortable celebrating the gunning down of a man, albeit a man with the death of thousands of Americans on his hands. That turns him into a martyr and pins too much hope on his death.

Al-Qaida, I think, will take this blow as an inspiration to regroup and maybe attack somewhere else in the near future.

Pat Jackson, Charlotte

Jackson, president of a Charlotte title insurance agency, was a volunteer firefighter on Long Island, N.Y., in 2001, when his truck and a dozen others from six volunteer departments caravanned eventually to ground zero. On 9-11, he would lose his boyhood friend, Brian McAleese, a fellow firefighter and father of four.

We dug. We did some security. It was a madhouse. People came literally from across the country to help.

The guys in Brian's department went down there every day for a month looking for him. There were some things I saw there I can't talk about. It's just too hard.

I heard the news about bin Laden right as I was going to bed. It totally caught me off guard. I'm glad they caught him before this upcoming anniversary. I think it's more emotional than anything else.

I thought the way the president handled it was wonderful. I thought the way the military handled it was fantastic. I'm glad they respected the Muslim tradition and buried him quickly at sea. I'm glad they didn't give his followers the option to have some sort of burial shrine.

I don't think it's a perfect closure. We have to be concerned about any kind of revenge. But I think it's a huge milestone.

Suneet Bhatt, Charlotte

He lost his college roommate and closest friend, Neil Shastri, on 9-11. On that morning, Shastri, recently married and historically late to work, was determined to get to his office in one of the World Trade Center towers early. Hours later, Bhatt got the call that Shastri was missing.

This is an amazing and symbolic day. But I would have liked to have seen, in the midst of all the celebration, someone call for a moment of silence and reflection.

I took one. I thought of my college roommate and I thought of the other families I spoke with and shared grief with as we searched all over New York for our loved ones.

This wasn't our moment of closure. Our moment of closure was (Shastri's) memorial service when they still hadn't confirmed his passing. Our moment of closure was when his ID was found in the wreckage months later and delivered to his widow.

The United States did something amazing. Our leaders also did something bordering on the unique: They defined an outcome, set out to achieve it and fulfilled the promise. And they secured a tremendous symbolic victory.

But we still miss the hell out of Neil. And before everyone jumps for joy, I encourage them to take a moment to think about everyone we lost in the buildup to the firefight at Osama bin Laden's compound.