An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a father of two and a former Princeton football star suffered fatal injuries when the driver of a white pickup truck speeded down Bourbon Street packed with holiday revelers Wednesday morning. Drove the car.
Authorities have not yet released the names of the 15 people killed in a New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans, but their families and friends have begun to share their stories. New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that the names of the dead would be released after autopsies are completed and next of kin are notified. About 30 people were injured.
Nikyra Dedox
Zion Parsons, of Gulfport, Mississippi, was celebrating New Year’s Eve during her first night out on Bourbon Street when a vehicle drove by and ran over her friend, 18-year-old Nikyra Dedaux, who she said had hit a nurse. Had dreamed of becoming.
“A truck came around the corner and sped off, throwing people into the air like a scene from a movie,” Parsons, 18, told The Associated Press. “She got hit and fell at least 30 feet, and I was lucky to survive.”
As the crowd dispersed in chaos, he heard gunshots and explosive sounds, bleeding and maiming victims, after which he fled in horrified condition.
“Up and down the street there were bodies, dead bodies, everybody was screaming and yelling,” Parsons said. “People are crying on the floor, with brains scattered all over the ground. It was absolutely crazy, like the closest thing to a war zone I’ve ever seen.”
Dedeaux was a responsible daughter, Parsons said — younger than all her siblings but one who helped take care of everyone else. Dedaux had a job at a hospital and was about to start working toward her goal of starting college and becoming a registered nurse.
Parsons said, “He had made up his mind – he didn’t have everything decided, but he had planned.”
reggie hunter
Shirrell Jackson, another cousin, told Nola.com that Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, had just left work and was on his way to celebrate New Year’s with a cousin when the attack occurred.
Hunter was killed and his cousin was injured, Jackson said.
Tiger Beach
A former high school and college football player from Louisiana was among those killed in the attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter, according to an education official.
Tiger Bech, 28, died Wednesday morning in a New Orleans hospital, according to local media outlets quoting Kim Broussard, athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette. Becht attended high school where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back, NOLA.com reports.
Bech’s LinkedIn profile states that he played football at Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently he was working as an investment trader in a New York brokerage firm.
Princeton football coach Bob Surace said Wednesday he was texting Bech’s father to share memories of the player, who was a kick returner and receiver from 2017 to 2019.
“He might be the first Tiger to play for us and that nickname describes him as a competitor,” Surace told ESPN. The school’s teams are also known as the Tigers. “He was someone who somehow, in crucial moments, excelled and was full of energy, full of life.”
Bech was working at Seaport Global, where company spokeswoman Lisa Lieberman could not confirm his death. But he told the Associated Press that “he was greatly respected by everyone who knew him.”