Raleigh-natives Julie and Josh Palmer were one block away from the deadly Barcelona attacks in Las Ramblas Thursday afternoon.
Raleigh-natives Julie and Josh Palmer were one block away from the deadly Barcelona attacks in Las Ramblas Thursday afternoon.
Josh Palmer, who was in Barcelona competing in a professional poker event, and his wife said they were having lunch around 4 p.m. when the attack occurred. They were able to return safely to their hotel.
« All of a sudden we saw a bunch of people running down the road, » Julie Palmer said. « Stores were closing. People were closing down their garage doors. It was kind of like a lockdown. »
« It kind of calmed down for a couple seconds, and then there would come another wave of people from Las Ramblas. »
Palmer said she noticed armed officials just moments before the attacks.
« They had their guns pointed down when they were walking. They were very intense, » she said. « Our first thought was to get out and get away from everybody that was running.”
Palmer said people were running away without knowing what was happening.
« There was just a scatter effect because no one knew what had happened. With so many people, there was just confusion, » she said.
« But we’re choosing not to live in fear. This could have happened in Raleigh, the same as here in Barcelona. »
