Coachella Valley couple share their story after being in the middle of Barcelona terror attack

A Coachella Valley couple who found themselves in the middle of the aftermath of the terror attacks in Barcelona that left 15 people dead share their story.

Last Thursday afternoon, Erica Harnik, the daughter of Palm Desert Mayor Jan Harnik, and her boyfriend Osama Khan were enjoying a day in the south of Spain.

They described walking through famous streets as an experience like a day at Disneyland or like walking down the Las Vegas Strip but, roughly an hour later it was a much different scene. Carnage, after a terrorist attack that left 15 people dead and more than 100 others injured.

“You know, you don’t have a manual on how you should feel or how to act. It’s just this roller coaster,” Erica Harnik said.

Harnik and Khan say they are still processing the terrorist attack.

“It’s like a slap in the face of reality,” Harnik said.

The pair, who had been abroad celebrating Khan’s graduation from Harvard Law School were back at their hotel when they heard the news but roughly an hour before they had been walking down the famous Las Ramblas.

“It was alarming to know that we had been in that exact spot. We had walked down that exact spot,” said Harnik.

It’s an experience that the pair says will affect them for the rest of their lives. The images they witnessed in the days that followed will stay with them forever.

“The fragility of life and how easily it can all be gone in an instant,” Khan said.

The pair says they have had a lot to ponder over the past five days and that they haven’t been able to stop thinking about the incident since it happened.