Reaction to the death of a parade-goer at last night's Endymion parade seemed to strike at the hearts of all.
One witness speaking with WWL-TV stated the victim was pushed.
"He was reaching for throws and somebody pushed him to get the throws and the devastation happened right in front of his family."
The unidentified African-American woman did not indicate if it appeared to be an accidental or malicious act.
She went on to describe the moments of the victim's life: "He got pushed underneath the float, completely underneath, his family watched his body, when he got pushed underneath there, it's like he was in shock, and he stopped and he moved again... ...and then he was gone!"
The death slammed the brakes on the parade at Canal and Galvez Streets. From there, the parade was severed at the 13th float--all previous floats were allowed to continue on the route.
Float 14, a triple-tandem float depicting the whimsical riverboat S.S. Eddie was sequestered as it was now an accident scene.
The rest of the floats were all unloaded of their riders, lights and animatronics turned off, and then towed to the Superdome.
All bands and marching parties were taken from the scene in buses.
As riders started showing up at the Convention Center for the ball, they expressed their concern about the victim and the parade in general.
For one man, it was his first time as an Endymion rider: "We got word that someone was actually, fatally killed, so it really put a damper on the whole night," The Rider went on, telling WWL-TV. "We're really sorry that this happened and we really reach out, and our prayers to the family and victim who was involved."
Another Rider, dressed as a riverboat captain himself, arrived and talked about riders reacted to the news: "It was immediate, everybody was sad. It's just one of those things, everybody's having a good time and you hear news like that and it just takes the air out of the bubble, so to speak."
At Gallier Hall a ball was underway, actor Vatican Lokey, appearing as his Mardi Gras character Carl Nivale, described the faces of attendees as news spread through the event: "What had been a joyous evening suddenly fell with a pallor and you could see people instantly drop, you could see people's faces drop. Reactions of shock and dismay, anger, every possible emotion that you could imagine was happening."
The same woman who described how the victim died asked publically "How? Why is it we can't come out as a group of people just to enjoy the festivities without having commotions to take place? We should be able to come out and enjoy and leave and go home."