BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Bloomfield Township family returned home from Nice this week after vacationing in the coastal French city and witnessing the aftermath of the terrorist attack.
Harris and Melissa Ng and their two children stayed in a hotel overlooking the promenade where the attack happened. They said they saw police moving in moments after it happened.
“We were watching the crowds and all of a sudden we noticed a stream of police officers,” Harris Ng said. “A few seconds later, we heard some gunshots.”
The Ng family were traveling in Spain and decided to stop in Nice for two days to celebrate Bastille Day.
Melissa Ng said she was already nervous about traveling to France because of the November 2015 Paris attacks.
“This is their national holiday, you would think they would have proper lockdown procedures by now,” Ng said.
The kids wanted to play "Pokemon Go" in the promenade moments before the attack.
“Only by the grace of God and the grace of Harris saying we’re going to bed,” Melissa Ng said.
She observed little security and added that she doesn’t plan to be back.
“It was like they didn’t have a policy or a strategy in case something like this happens,” she said. “It took them 15 hours to do a proper lockdown.”
The attack left 84 people dead and more than 200 injured.