NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville couple is back from their New Orleans trip, thankful to be home after how close they came to the New Year's Eve terror attack.
They told me how the trip changed them and how they would be more watchful in crowds going forward.
Emily and Tony Garmon are both Georgia fans which brought them to the Crescent City in the first place.
“The game for us was a disappointment, but the atmosphere was great,” said Emily and Tony Garmon of the Sugar Bowl.
They also planned to take advantage of the famous Bourbon Street to help ring in the New Year and 2025.
“And that's where we took our kissing picture,” said Emily. “It hits hard. It's so scary.”
Waking up on New Year's Day, they realized how close they came to the terror attack. A gut feeling told them to leave Bourbon Street shortly after midnight.
They both now know that gut feeling likely saved their lives.
“It was amazing because the amount of people. It was a wall to wall, and it would have been unimaginable,” said Tony.
“Maybe at that moment, the Lord was maybe protecting me or giving me some sort of a sign to get out,” said Emily. “I can’t even imagine what those families that are going through, of people that have fallen.”
New Year’s Day — a day that should have been filled with more celebrations in the streets of New Orleans — felt much different.
“It was just real quiet. This very quiet day. It was kind of just an oddly quiet day after that happened.”
The couple stayed for the delayed Sugar Bowl, initially unsure if it would be wise to be in a large crowd again. They ultimately decided not to let terror win.
“I did feel like, in a way, we were all kind of coming together like a family would over a tragedy,” said Emily and Tony. “That’ s how you beat these people. You show them that, that whatever they do, they're not going to win.”
To help the victims of the New Orleans Bourbon Street terror attack, United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the Greater New Orleans Foundation are accepting donations.
