re: Have any of y'all been directly affected by a Mass Casualty Event/Terrorist Attack?

My son and I were at the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street for the Sugar Bowl this year. Our Room was at the corner of Bourbon and Conti Street. We had gotten out of an Uber around 130 at the corner of Bourbon and Bienville Street and decided we needed at least one more beer before bed. We got back to our room around 230 having crossed the intersection of Bourbon and Conti about 45 minutes before the driver was killed. We were sound asleep when the fire alarm went off and initially we ignored it but the started making announcements that there was a mandatory evacuation. I started getting dressed but my son was not having it...until the hotel security started beating on the doors. We were in the lobby around 330 and it was PACKED with people, many who had obviously experienced some trauma...EMTs were working on 2 people lying on the floor and bleeding pretty profusely. The police had the lobby sort of split in half with guests on one side and people who had been ran into the lobby by the attack and the police on one side. The police said EVERYBODY had to leave the Hotel....but the manager pointed out that the guests were all in one side of the lobby so we were allowed to stay...they made everyone else go to the underground parking garage. No one had any idea what was going on. We stayed in the lobby until about 5 AM when they allowed us to return to our rooms. No one was clear then what had happened.

Almost everyone in that lobby was Bourbon Street shitfaced. One man was pissed off about being turned out of his suite and him and his wife got into a hell of an argument. He was almost arrested when he tried to go back to his room, he was cuffed and lead away but in the madness there was no where to take him. By the time the police brought him back his wife was curled up with her head in my lap sound asleep. I thought he and I would probably have to discuss this turn of events but apparently she was prone to passing out drunk in a strangers lap. He looked over initially and never said a word, I suspect he was happy to be shed of her for a minute LOL.

It was pretty disturbing. The next morning we tried to leave the hotel and the FBI was not letting anyone leave but around 9 AM they let us leave out of the parking deck exit but could not walk toward Bourbon Street. There were various law enforcement agents everywhere. We were told to make certain we had ID and a room key because we would not be allowed back inside the crime scene. They weren't kidding. We were checked going and coming back the rest of the week.

Had we decided to have another beer...we discussed it at length...we would have been at the corner of Bourbon and Conti at almost exactly the time the driver was killed. Pure dumb luck - life is a series of near misses and tragedies and you never know what is liable to happen.

Despite this incident that was the best trip to New Orleans I have ever made...and I have made a bunch. It was PERFECT until that fire alarm went off...I know that those of you who live there and the surrounding area cuss New Orleans pretty soundly but as a tourist they have made some serious improvements to the Quarter. I know that sounds crazy given what happened but up until that moment that trip was perfect.

I'm familiar with the perpetrator, the victims some and the event it was all over the news

I was asking him to share his personal stories and perspectives if he wanted

My dad prosecuted a guy years ago that took a rifle and walked down the street shooting random people. The conviction was overturned on appeal and he was ruled incompetent to stand trial. Last I heard he was still locked up in an institution for the criminally insane. I went to high school with the guy's daughter. I didnt know her well but she seemed relatively normal.

Yes, my 2nd cousin NYE innthe FQ NOLA

I was also in Centennial Park when the bomb went off. I had no idea what had happened, but I knew something had because of all the sirens.

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No, but im not gay

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I bet you've tried