On the last day, chaos erupted on the subway in Brooklyn.
"We went on the subway many times," said Hazim, and he noted that he took the same train line that first responders rushed to Tuesday.
They had also gone to Brooklyn to catch a boat around the New York Harbor to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
"I honestly woke up this morning telling the kids, 'Let's see what tragedy is unfolding today,'" he said.
These types of mass casualty tragedies are getting new focus with Tuesday's incident in Brooklyn and the shooting in downtown Sacramento that killed six people.
"It can happen," said Gerald Baker, sheriff of Wake County. "It doesn't have to be in the subway, we all know that. It's happening all over the country."
Baker did have to respond to a major incident late in 2020 when someone shot at the doors of the Wake County Justice Center.
Staffing shortages have challenged law enforcement departments nationwide, including Sheriff Baker's.
He said it won't stop him from his day-to-day and from training to be prepared for incidents like this.
"We're constantly keeping ourselves prepared so we can respond to anything that occurs in this county," Baker said.
Hazim meantime said he's grateful to be back in Raleigh
"We had a lot of fun," he said. "New York is amazing as long as you get to leave."