Among the 15 victims of the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans are an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a 37-year-old father of two and a 27-year-old former football player.
Authorities have not yet released the names of those killed in the alleged terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of at least 15 people, but local media began reporting details on Wednesday as relatives spoke out.
A speeding vehicle plowed into the crowd of revelers celebrating the first hours of 2025 in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The gunman driving the vehicle also exchanged gunfire with police until officers shot him dead.
The attacker has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old war veteran from Texas. In addition to the 15 fatalities, dozens of other people were injured, according to authorities.
Local New Orleans media outlets have identified the first known victims, including 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, who had traveled to New Orleans from nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, with a cousin and friend; Reggie Hunter, 37, father of two children and native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Tiger Bech, 27, a native of Lafayette (Louisiana) and former American football player. A fourth victim was Nicole Pérez, a 28-year-old mother and deli manager from Metairie, Louisiana, who was celebrating the New Year with friends. Later on Wednesday, Hubert Gauthreaux and Kareem Badawi were identified as victims by their former institutes.
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux graduated from Harrison Central High School in Gulfport in 2024 and was set to begin a nursing program at Blue Cliff College later this month.
Melissa Dedeaux, her mother, he told Nola.com: “He was the sweetest person. He gave you anything, anything.” He said his daughter had apparently been hit by the speeding truck after running when she heard the gunshots.
“Cheyenne was a very intelligent and outgoing girl,” he added. “He had never been in any trouble.”
After finishing work on New Year’s Eve, Hunter decided to head to Bourbon Street “on a whim” to celebrate the new year with a cousin, Shirell Jackson, his family told Nola.com.
According to the outlet, Bech was hit by the suspect’s truck, said Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St Thomas More Catholic High School, where he played football before going on to play for Princeton University.
He graduated from Princeton in 2021 and worked as a trader at a New York brokerage firm, according to Broussard.
Suburban New Orleans Catholic High School Archbishop Shaw said its Class of 2021 alumnus Hubert Gauthreaux “was tragically murdered in the senseless act of violence that occurred early in the morning.” [del miércoles] in the French Quarter.”
“He was 21 years old,” Shaw’s statement said about Gauthreaux. The statement also asked the community “to pray for the repose of Hubert’s soul.”
For its part, the Episcopal Institute in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, reported that its former student from the class of 2024, Kareem Badawi, died in the attack. Another of its former students was injured, the school said in a statement, local NBC affiliate WDSU reported.
A man named Matthew Tenedorio was also among those killed in the attack, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by his family in his memory. The fundraising page described him as a graduate of Pearl River Central High from Carriere, Mississippi, which is about 60 miles north of New Orleans.
Tenedorio was an audiovisual technician at Caesars Superdome, which was going to host the 2025 edition of the Sugar Bowl football game between the universities of Notre Dame and Georgia on Wednesday night, a game that was postponed until this Thursday due to the attack.
“He played a crucial role in creating memorable experiences for countless fans and event attendees,” the GoFundMe page in his honor says.
The campaign maintains that Tenedorio “made lasting memories and friendships” during his time at Pearl River Central. “Matthew was always one to lighten the mood, able to laugh at life’s challenges and spread positivity wherever he went.”
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