Family of New Orleans attack survivor: ‘They should’ve protected people better’
Family of New Orleans attack survivor: ‘They should’ve protected people better’
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Safety failures scrutinized after Emile Graham was badly injured during attack and witnessed his best friend’s death. Loved ones of a man who witnessed his best friend’s murder during the deadly New Year’s morning truck attack in New Orleans – and was badly wounded himself – have been lamenting the city’s failure to better protect revelers on its most famous street that day.
![[A school portrait of a young man in a tuxedo and green bow tie]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/230ba8a258af59971129d2542e6b6a0ca1a8a00b/0_0_1638_2048/master/1638.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
After revelations that the city either took down or chose not to deploy three different types of barriers that it had to prevent vehicular ramming attacks like the one that killed 14 people and hurt nearly 60 others on Bourbon Street on 1 January, the father of injured victim Emile “Luui” Graham said: “They should’ve protected people better than this.”.
“Nobody deserved to die like that,” Graham’s father, also named Emile, told Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana. Alluding to how most of those killed were between their late teens and 40s, the elder Graham added: “These people are all burying their children. These people [were] all young.”.
Emile Graham’s parents said he and his best friend, Hubert Gauthreaux, had gone to Bourbon Street to ring in 2025 with other revelers before the attack happened. Both grew up in New Orleans-area communities just across the Mississippi River from the city, and they shared a love of music with one another during their frequent hangouts, Graham’s sister, Brianna, told local news station WVUE.
