More victims of the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, which killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, have been identified by their relatives, as authorities continue to investigate the fatal incident.
The New Orleans coroner’s office has released the names of 12 of the 14 victims who were killed when a man drove a pickup truck into crowds on Bourbon Street and then opened fire before being killed in a shootout with police, in what officials are investigating as an act of terrorism.
Meanwhile, details about the victims continue to emerge as family members, who have been informed of their loved ones’ deaths, speak out.
On Thursday evening, a family from New Orleans said that their relative, 63-year-old Terrence Kennedy, had been one of the 14 people killed in the attack.
“Just when I thought my family was out of the woods, unfortunately today we found out my uncle was one of the victims who was killed on Bourbon St,” Kennedy’s niece, Monisha James, wrote on social media.
“I know people say this all the time but if you knew ‘Uncle Terry’ you knew he was Nice and Quiet and Super Clean! I’m just really at a loss for words,” she added.
In an interview with local news outlet Nola.com, James said Kennedy had informed the family he was going to Bourbon Street for a drink to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
However, when the family had not heard from him, they began to spread the word that he was missing. A cousin contacted someone they knew at the Orleans parish coroner’s office, James said, who confirmed that Kennedy had died.
James said that her uncle had been taken to East Jefferson general hospital, where he died at about 6am on Wednesday.
James described her uncle as the “nicest person in the world” and as someone who was always ready to lend a helping hand.
Kennedy grew up in Uptown New Orleans, and graduated from Walter Cohen high school, James said. Walter Cohen was a free man of color born in New Orleans in 1860, shortly before the US civil war.
Kennedy enjoyed NFL football, loving the Saints and the Chiefs, but his favorite team was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Other victims of the attack include 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux, who had come to the city from nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, with a cousin and a friend; Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Martin “Tiger” Bech, a native of Louisiana and former football player in his late 20s; and Nicole Perez, a mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana, also in her late 20s, who had been celebrating the new year with a friend.
Also killed were 21-year-old Hubert Gauthreaux, an alum of the New Orleans-area Catholic high school Archbishop Shaw; 18-year-old Kareem Badawi, an alum of Baton Rouge’s Episcopal high school who was in the middle of his freshman year at the University of Alabama; 25-year-old Matthew Tenedorio, an audiovisual technician who lived in Mississippi and worked at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome and had gone out with friends; and 25-year-old Billy DiMaio, an account executive based in New York who had come to New Orleans to celebrate the new year with friends.
Other victims were Drew Dauphin, 26, of Montgomery, Alabama; Brandon Taylor, 43, of Harvey, Louisiana; and Elliot Wilkinson, 40, of Slidell, Louisiana.
The coroner’s office said a man described as a British national remained unidentified Friday as his family arranged to repatriate his remains. London’s Metropolitan police has identified that man as 31-year-old Edward Pettifer of Chelsea.
In a statement reported by Sky News, Pettifer’s family said they were “devastated” by his death while describing him as a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many”.
“We will all miss him terribly,” the family’s statement added. “Our thoughts are with the other families who have lost their family members due to this terrible attack. We request that we can grieve the loss of Ed as a family in private.”
Investigators said they were still working to identify a woman on Friday.
Among those reported injured are a combat veteran employed at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, two 19-year-old women from Fort Myers, a friend of Bech’s, a student from the University of Georgia, a student from the University of Mississippi, and a 23-year-old mother and her friend, as well as two Israeli citizens and two police officers, according to the New York Times. Two Mexican citizens were also injured, Mexico’s government has said.
Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed reporting
