WATERTOWN, Mass. — Watertown residents say it was like being in a “war zone” when they were woken in the middle of the night during a shootout between police and the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

Retired couple Albert and Anna Lanzo heard gunfire and a large boom that shook their house and lit up the sky at around 11:30 p.m. Thursday.

Anna Lanzo, a retired medical secretary, says now she knows what it’s like to be in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Christine Yajko says she knew the sounds she heard in the early morning hours Friday were gunshots so she stayed away from the windows. She says police came to her door and told her there was an unexploded bomb in the street right outside her home.

Mike Julakis says he heard 100 gunshots.