At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured when a pickup truck was driven into a crowd on Bourbon Street early Jan. 1, 2025, near the intersection of Conti Street. (Photo by Theron Sapp/Courtesy WVUE-TV)
NEW ORLEANS — As the investigation continues into the terror attack on Bourbon Street, the names of those killed and injured are starting to surface.
At least 14 people have died since Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas native, tore through a three-block section of the French Quarter in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Police killed Jabbar in a shootout after he rammed through the crowded street.
Authorities have updated the number of people injured to 37.
Official confirmation of the identities of the deceased and injured has not been provided, but family members and the schools that some attended have acknowledged they were victims of the terror attack.
Fatalities
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, of Gulfport, Mississippi. The Times-Picayune reported she had accompanied her cousin and friend to the French Quarter for New Year’s Eve, her mother said.
Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, of Jefferson Parish. A spokesperson for Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero confirmed to WVUE-TV that its alumnus was among those killed in the attack. Gauthreaux graduated from Shaw in 2021 and was remembered as a bright and promising young man, according to the school representative.
Martin “Tiger” Bech, 28, a graduate of St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette who played football and graduated at Princeton University. KLFY-TV in Lafayette reported Bech worked for a financial firm in New York City. His brother Jack played for LSU before transferring to Texas Tech, also confirmed his death in an X post.
Reggie Hunter, 37, of Baton Rouge. WAFB-TV reported the father of two made a last-minute decision to travel to the French Quarter with his cousin, who was also struck by the truck and injured.
Kareem Badawi, a 2024 graduate of Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge and University of Alabama freshman. WAFB-TV reported that Episcopal sent a message to parents Wednesday about Badawi’s death. His classmate, Parker Vidrine, is in critical condition from the attack.
Nicole Perez, 27, of Metairie. The Times-Picayune reported she was the mother of a 4-year-old son and was recently promoted to a manager at the deli where she worked.
Drew Dauphin, an engineer who worked for Honda, according to a report from AL.com. Auburn University, where Dauphin graduated in 2023, confirmed his death on social media.
Matthew Tendorio, 25, an audiovisual technician at the Superdome from Carriere, Mississippi. Axios reported his family has created an online donation page to help cover the cost of his funeral.
The injured
The University of Georgia, whose football team is taking part in the Sugar Bowl college football playoff game against Notre Dame, confirmed that one of its students was critically injured in the terror attack. WBBH-TV confirmed the student is 19-year-old Elle Eisele of Fort Myers, Florida.
Eisele’s high school classmate, Steele Idelson, 19, was also hurt. She is a student at San Diego State University.
Adam Coste, an employee of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, has suffered “extensive injuries to his lower extremities,” according to a friend who created a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses. He identified Coste as an Army veteran.
Two visitors from Mexico were also among the injured, WVUE-TV Fox 8 is reporting. Both are in stable condition at a local hospital, and the Mexican consulate in New Orleans is working to keep their families informed.
ABC News is reporting that two Israeli nationals were injured. Israel’s consulate is sending a representative to New Orleans.
Lone actor
The FBI is saying their investigation to this point indicates Jabbar acted alone in planning the terror attack. Agents do not currently believe there are any links between the incident in New Orleans and Wednesday’s explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jabbar posted five videos on his Facebook page in the two hours before he made his fatal drive down Bourbon Street. He said he “joined ISIS before the summer,” FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia said at a news conference Thursday morning.
The Ford F-150 pickup Jabbar drove was rented Monday in Houston, and he made the trip to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve. Investigators believe he built improvised explosive devices at a short-term rental property just 2 miles from the French Quarter.
One of the IEDs was found inside the pickup truck, which featured an Islamic State flag on a pole attached to its trailer hitch.
Raia said surveillance video shows Jabbar placing a cooler with a homemade bomb inside at the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans streets and a second device two blocks away. Both were safely detonated after the French Quarter was cleared and police swept the neighborhood for evidence.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.