Coppell High School junior Emily Elliott grew up in the cultural epicenter of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, not ever knowing that she was going to lose three of her friends during last July’s bombings.

“My mom taught them when they were in middle school, my brother played on the same volleyball team, and my sister was really good friends with them as well,” Elliott said.

The attacks occurred in the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan Thana located in Dhaka, Bangladesh, home to many markets, shopping centers, embassies and historical monuments. The attacks were carried out by multiple militants.

Twenty people of various backgrounds and ethnicities were taken hostage and killed by multiple attackers. Nine were Italian missionaries, seven were Japanese diplomats working in Syhlet (a major city that lies in on the banks of Suma River in Northeastern Bangladesh) and three were American university students visiting family abroad. This recent attack has left the people of Bangladesh and beyond with many questions.

“Bangladesh isn’t one of those countries that is [attacked] or threatened,” Elliott said. “With Bangladesh’s history, the country has always been relatively peaceful since the birth of the country in 1971.

“My family and I moved here to the United States for various reasons but the main reason was that my parents wanted me to go to a high school here in the states.”

Although she was safe in Coppell during the attacks, Elliott remembers the exact moment when she heard of the attacks.

“I saw the breaking news on CNN and normally Bangladesh wouldn’t be on the news unless there was tragic world wide event,” Elliott said. “It was pretty shocking because foreigners in Bangladesh wouldn’t normally be targeted by extremist groups.”

Abnita Kabir and Faaraz Ayaaz Hossain, both students at Emory University and Tarushi Jain, a freshmen at University of California, Berkeley were visiting family in Dhaka for the summer. An attacker approached them and asked them whether they were American citizens or not. Abnita and Tarushi said that they were American students and they were immediately taken hostage.

Faaraz said he was also an American student, but he mentioned he was Bangladeshi and was visiting family for the summer; he was let go but decided stay back because he didn’t want to leave his friends alone in the face of danger.

Minutes later all three lost their lives.

“It was shocking, it was people my family knew, my mom was their middle school teacher, they would always go on various field trips together,”  Elliott said.

Less than a day after learning about the attacks, Elliott and her family headed to the airport.

“Shortly after the attacks my family and I were waiting at the Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport  for a friend who lived in Dhaka for more than 30 years,” Elliott said. “His name was Maxwell, he’s been planning to visit his sister who’s a student at Texas Christian University, we were planning to see a game with him and his sister.”

Emily shared that an event like the Dhaka attacks can happen anywhere at anytime.

“It really didn’t affect as it did for the rest of my family, my brother were on the same volleyball team as Faaraz, Abnita, and Tarushi, my mom taught all three when they were in middle school, plus my sister were really good friends with all three. It still shocking that this happened to people I knew,” Elliott said.