Raleigh man shares experience in New Orleans during terror attack

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WTVD) -- The death toll in New Orleans has risen to 15 after a truck plowed into the crowd on Bourbon Street. One man from Raleigh says he's lucky it wasn't him as he was staying just blocks away.

Brice Harris from Raleigh was enjoying New Years in the Big Easy and is now left in the wake of the unthinkable.

"Just complete shock and nothing but sad emotions going to come in through," Harris says. "It's just not something you want to see. It's scary."

Harris was in town to see blue grass singer Billy Strings and celebrate the holiday. Harris showed us where the area around his hotel is now a crime scene, he needs to be escorted out of his hotel just yards from the truck and the suspect's body.

"From our hotel there is a a perimeter set up over here. They have SWAT and FBI all over the place. Bomb squads doing bomb searches right down the street here. There were bodies laying on the street that are covered with body bags that we could see walking by and really horrific stuff," Harris says.

He says after seeing the death and destruction, he knows it could have easily been him. A last minute decision to see another show may have saved his life.

"We very likely would have been there if we didn't have some friends convince us to go to another show, another half a mile down the street," he says.

We spoke with an FBI expert who tells us with large events like New Orleans, law enforcement should always be on high alert.

"We have to get rid of complacency in all areas of law enforcement, all areas of the government. We don't have to build walls a mile high but we have to stop thinking it's not going to happen in my city. We have to stop that," says former FBI special agent Frank Brostrom.

As for Harris, he's still trying to process what happened and counting his blessings.

"Lead with love and, you know, lead with your heart because there's there's too much hate in this world," he says.

Harris says right now there is still a perimeter that he has to be escorted in and out of. He has been able to reach loved ones back here in North Carolina, and he's scheduled to fly back home to Raleigh on Friday.