Security tightened at large venues in the wake of Manchester bombing

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The British Isles Shop in Rice Village is thousands of miles from Manchester as the crow flies, but not as Guy Streatfield's heart lies. As the news of the bombing came in, it was hard to maintain the proverbial stiff upper lip.

“Somebody coming in and destroying lives in the most terrifying way, and so you immediately picture it happening here,” Streatfield said. Especially because when Ariana Grande was playing the Rodeo, he and his son were there too.

He's a not alone in wondering if it could happen here. The FBI here in Houston has issued a statement saying there are no specific or credible threats. That's not to say Houston doesn't make an inviting target for a similar attack, says former FBI Agent James Conway.

“In terms of Houston, yeah, we've got a million soft targets. We have Super Bowls. We have All-Star games. We have concerts.  We have the Rodeo. No doubt about it, we have a lot of soft targets, but I'm confident in the JTTF here working in conjunction with the police that they do a pretty good job of getting out in front of these things," Conway said.

In other words, disrupting terror plots before they can get to our venues. He says that cop you see at the gate is the last, not the first, line of defense.  The real work happens behind the scenes, but expect security to be tight in and around all of Houston's venues for some time -- just in case.

But Streatfield thinks it will take more than just law enforcement working together to stop attacks like this one, here or in Britain.

“We're all in his together -- the Muslims, the Christians, and anybody of any faith, of any race. We are all in this together and I hope that’s the way it's dealt with," Streatfield said.