Evanston Native Who Survived 9/11 Reflects on Tragedy 14 Years Later

Evanston native Mark Shore is one of the lucky ones.

He worked on the 62nd floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 and on September 11 was on his way downstairs after the first plane hit the North Tower and just as his building was hit by the second airliner.

Shore shared his story with CBS-2-Chicago on Friday while attending a memorial ceremony at the Evanston police station.

“We’d just come out of the stairwell,” he remembers. “We were standing by the elevator shaft and when it exploded, everyone just kind of simultaneously turned and looked towards the elevator shaft. Anyone who was in the elevator, chances are they didn’t survive.”

Shore managed to get down from the South Tower and made it outside before it collapsed.

“I look up, and I see this huge cloud of smoke, and then I’m starting to realize I see one tower, but I don’t see the other one,” he said.

Shore, who moved back to the Chicago area in 2009, says it’s important for him to be at the annual memorial in Evanston, especially since three other Evanston natives did not make it out alive that day. Two who worked in the towers and one who was on the United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania are honored at the 9-11 Memorial in New York.

“For me, it’s a direct connection. It’s a part of my life. It’s a part of my experience,” said Shore.

more via CBS-2-Chicago