University students. Parents and other people pursuing careers. A former college football player whose little brother made a name for himself in the sport, too. A Briton whose stepmother had been a nanny of Princes Harry and William.
All had gathered on the most famous street in one of the world’s most festive cities to celebrate New Year’s Day. All were murdered when a US army veteran flying a flag of the Islamic State (IS) terror group drove a pickup truck around a makeshift police blockade and into a crowd on New Orleans’s Bourbon Street in the early morning of 1 January 2025, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more before authorities shot him to death during a gun battle.
Among countless other grim realities, the attack underscored the obdurate threat IS poses to the US, whose military helped drive the group out of its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2019.
It also dealt a soul-crushing blow to a tightly knit region that has spent much of its recent history fighting to survive the modern era’s hardships, including destructive hurricanes, a disproportionately high number of deaths inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic and high levels of violence that those in charge are either unable or unwilling to meaningfully address.
Those slain on a drag lined with bars, nightclubs and eateries were mostly in their late teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. They included residents of the local region, of other US gulf coast states, of the New York-New Jersey area and of Chelsea in west London. Similarly, among the wounded were locals, other Americans and international citizens, including from Mexico and Israel.
Below, in alphabetical order, are glimpses into the lives that were prematurely ended by a man who has been dismissed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a “cruel, merciless, bottom-feeding extremist”.
As one New Orleanian put it to local CBS affiliate and Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana: “This is unreal … I wish the families so much love.”
Kareem Badawi, 18
Kareem Badawi was in the middle of his freshman year at the University of Alabama after graduating from Episcopal high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital city, about an hour’s drive from New Orleans. Badawi had pledged to join the Sigma Chi fraternity at his university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, when he was killed.
“I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss,” the school’s president, Stuart R Bell, said.
Badawi’s father, Belal, published a Facebook post recounting “great sadness and grief” over his son’s murder. The post added: “We ask Allah to shower his mercy on him and give us patience and strength to overcome.”
Martin Bech, 27
Martin “Tiger” Bech was a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, roughly three hours’ drive west of New Orleans. He played football at St Thomas More Catholic high school in Lafayette before doing the same at Princeton University, the Ivy League institution in New Jersey.
Bech graduated from Princeton in 2021 and traded at a brokerage firm in New York, St Thomas More’s athletic director, Kim Broussard, said.
Princeton’s football coach, Bob Surace, said in a statement that it made sense his team – the Tigers – shared a nickname with Bech. “He was a tiger in every way – a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend,” Surace remarked.
Bech’s brother, Jack, is a football player for Texas Christian University. He previously played football at Louisiana State University, whose team is fiercely supported in Baton Rouge and beyond – and is nicknamed the Tigers, too.
“Love you always, brother!” Jack Bech wrote on X. “You inspired me every day – now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family, T, don’t worry. This is for us.”
Andrew Dauphin, 26
Andrew “Drew” Dauphin graduated from Alabama’s Auburn University in 2023. His profile on the professional development social media platform LinkedIn indicated he worked as a supplier process engineer for American Honda Motor Company Inc after completing his studies at Auburn.
“Words cannot convey the sorrow the Auburn family feels for Drew’s family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time,” Auburn’s president, Christopher Roberts, wrote in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the Dauphin family and the families of all the victims of this senseless tragedy.”
Ni’Kyra Dedeaux, 18
Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux resided in Gulfport, Mississippi, about a 75-minute drive north-east of New Orleans. She graduated from Gulfport’s Harrison Central high school and was preparing to embark on a nursing program at Blue Cliff College later in January.
Video on social media showed her smiling widely and petting the snout of a mounted police officer’s horse on Bourbon Street shortly before the attack.
Dedeaux’s mother, Melissa Dedeaux, told the New Orleans news outlet Nola.com that her daughter had been smart, outgoing and “the sweetest person”.
“She would give you anything, anything,” Melissa Dedeaux said. “Anything.”
William DiMaio, 25
William “Billy” DiMaio attended Holmdel high school in his New Jersey hometown of Holmdel, before graduating from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Loved ones recalled him as a standout lacrosse player, and he worked as an account executive in New York for the radio broadcasting chain Audacy.
He had gone to New Orleans to spend time with friends who were ringing in the start of 2025 and attending the college football playoff quarter-final between the universities of Notre Dame and Georgia.
“Billy had a smile that could light up a room,” DiMaio’s family said in a statement. Describing him as the oldest of three siblings, the family added: “His energetic personality inspired everyone around him. He cared for others more than himself and … held a unique and irreplaceable role in their lives as well as cousins’ and friends’. He will be dearly missed.”
Hubert Gauthreaux, 21
Hubert Gauthreaux graduated in 2021 from Archbishop Shaw high school, a Catholic institution in Marrero, Louisiana, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. His family recalled him as a devotee of baseball who had a vibrant sense of humor.
“You are so loved by everyone you’ve touched in this world,” his sister, Brooke, wrote on social media. “I’m so proud to be your big sister. I’d do anything to go back and be in the bleachers supporting you on the baseball diamond.”
She also wrote: “A piece of me [is] gone. My sweet, selfless baby brother. You deserved so much better than this.”
Reggie Hunter, 37
Reggie Hunter resided in Prairieville, Louisiana, west of New Orleans and east of Baton Rouge.
Hunter’s family described him as a father of two who on a whim decided to join the revelry on Bourbon Street on New Year’s Eve after completing his work as a warehouse manager.
In a social media post, Hunter’s cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson wrote that Hunter’s murder was a “punch in the gut”.
“He had just texted Happy New Year in our family group text,” she added.
Terrence Kennedy, 63
Terrence Kennedy grew up in New Orleans’s Uptown section and graduated from Walter Cohen high school, named after a local free man of color born shortly before the US civil war who had a prominent political career. He enjoyed NFL football and rooted for the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs and – his favorite team – the Pittsburgh Steelers, all of which have had stars hailing from Kennedy’s hometown.
Kennedy’s family told Nola.com that he had informed relatives he was going to Bourbon Street to have a drink and toast in the new year.
“I know people say this all time but if you knew ‘Uncle Terry’ you knew he was nice and quiet and super clean,” Kennedy’s niece Monisha James wrote on social media. “I’m just really at a loss for words.
Nicole Perez, 27
Nicole Perez was a 27-year-old mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana, a suburban area immediately to the west of New Orleans.
An online tribute said Perez had been dedicated to her job and had a son who was about five years old. In addition to her son, Perez’s survivors include her mother and her sister.
Her manager, Kimberly Usher, wrote: “She was so beautiful and full of life.”
Edward Pettifer, 31
British national Edward Pettifer was killed while visiting New Orleans from Chelsea in west London. He was the stepson of Alexandra Pettifer, formerly known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was the nanny for Princes William and Harry from 1993 to 1999, including at the time of their mother Diana’s death.
A statement issued by Pettifer’s family said his loved ones were “devastated at the tragic news of Ed’s death” on Bourbon Street.
“He was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many,” it said.
Members of the UK’s royal family were among those to express solidarity with those grieving Pettifer. William said he and Catherine, Princess of Wales were “shocked and saddened” by the murders of Petiffer “and all those innocent people” killed alongside him.
Meanwhile, royal sources told the Guardian that King Charles had personally been in touch with Pettifer’s family to convey his condolences after learning of the murder.
Latasha Polk, 45
Latasha Polk, 45, had a 14-year-old son and was a nurse’s assistant before being killed during the Bourbon Street attack, her family told WWL Louisiana.
Polk’s family said she was a hardworking nurse’s assistant. Records show she resided in New Orleans.
According to what her sister, Regnicea Butler, said to New Orleans’ NBC affiliate WDSU, the French Quarter was Polk’s favorite place.
An online tribute by Butler said Polk’s son “was the fire to her ice”.
“She was loved by everyone she came in contact with,” Butler added. “Latasha was a loving wife, mother, child, sister, cousin and friend.”
Brandon Taylor, 43
Brandon Taylor had previously resided in both Terrytown and Harvey, New Orleans-area communities on the other side of the Mississippi River from the historic French Quarter neighborhood where the attack on Bourbon Street took place.
His fiancee, Heather Genusa, said that he had worked as a cook and was an aficionado of rap music. He was also a proud graduate of John Ehret High School in the Harvey-adjacent community of Marrero and was a diehard supporter of the Saints and Pelicans, New Orleans’ football and basketball teams.
Genusa was out on Bourbon Street with Taylor at the time of the attack and witnessed his final moments.
“This will affect me for the rest of my life,” Genusa said. “Hold on to [loved ones] tight – because at any moment they can be ripped away from you for the rest of your life.”
Matthew Tenedorio, 25
Matthew Tenedorio graduated from Pearl River Central high school in Carriere, Mississippi, a drive of less than an hour to the north-east of New Orleans. He worked as an audiovisual technician at the Caesars Superdome, which hosted the Notre Dame-Georgia football game that many were in New Orleans to see at the time of the Bourbon Street attack.
Tenedorio’s cousin Christina Colgan Bounds said he had spent New Year’s Eve having dinner with family at his brother’s house in Slidell, Louisiana, about a 30-minute drive from New Orleans. He later joined some friends in the city, and the group made its way to Bourbon Street.
Born on Long Island in New York before moving south to be near his grandparents, Tenedorio “made lasting memories and friendships” during his lifetime, his loved ones said in an online tribute.
“Matthew was always the one to lighten the mood, able to laugh off life’s challenges and spread positivity wherever he went,” the tribute said.
Elliot Wilkinson, 40
Elliot Wilkinson was from Slidell, Louisiana. His brother, Cecil Wilkinson, told CNN that Elliot had had a history of mental illness, had experienced being unhoused and recently had gotten out of prison.
According to the network, Cecil had offered his brother a place to stay but that Elliot had not accepted because “he never wanted to be a burden to the family”.
Cecil Wilkinson said he, his sister and his brother’s daughter were devastated to learn Elliot had been killed in the attack on Bourbon Street.
“You [were] loved and you will be truly missed,” Elliot’s brother wrote on a social media post. “I know life was hard for you at times. But I wasn’t expecting to get the phone call [that] … you … got hit in New Orleans in the French Quarter.”
Harry Taylor and Richard Palmer contributed reporting
