New Orleans Releases Most Names of Victims Killed in Attack

[ad_1] To residents of New Orleans, grieving goes past somber goodbyes. It includes celebrating the life all of us lead collectively by dancing and taking part in music, to assist usher those that have handed into the subsequent life.

At a vigil on a crowded Bourbon Avenue on Saturday night, a number of hundred individuals gathered to do exactly that. Paying tribute to the victims of the New Yr’s Day assault, they sobbed and hugged. They positioned candles, work and five-foot-crosses at two rising memorials. They listened plaintively as a brass band performed the hymn “Only a Nearer Stroll With Thee.” Then they danced when it performed “I’ll Fly Away.”

The vigil continued the mourning course of within the metropolis for the 14 individuals killed and the handfuls injured when a Texas man drove a pickup into the town’s French Quarter, the place crowds of individuals had gathered alongside Bourbon Avenue to have a good time. Federal authorities had been investigating the act as a terrorist assault.

One of many victims was Elliot Wilkinson, 40. He had been launched from jail and was homeless, however issues gave the impression to be trying up. He had began trying to find an house, in keeping with an area homeless outreach group, Unity of Larger New Orleans. And he was again in one among his favourite locations, in keeping with his brother, Cecil Wilkinson.

“That’s the place he needed to go, when he acquired out, in order that’s the place he went,” the brother stated on Friday. “He liked that metropolis."

Elliot Wilkinson Credit score... through Cecil Wilkinson On Friday night, the town launched the names of 12 of the 14 victims. All had died of blunt power accidents, in keeping with the emailed launch. A thirteenth sufferer was recognized by the Metropolitan Police in London as a British citizen: Edward Pettifer, aged 31. One particular person had not but been recognized.

As their names had been revealed this week, buddies and households mourned the promising futures minimize quick. Some had simply began faculty or new jobs. On Friday, individuals gathered close to flowers and candles organized alongside the trail that the truck had taken. President Biden was planning to go to on Monday and meet with the victims’ households and others affected.

Among the many victims was Drew Dauphin, 26, who had come to the town from Alabama together with his little brother, Matthew. They'd gotten separated after going to a live performance and getting some pizza. Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, had deliberate to look at the fireworks alongside the river, he advised his household. That morning they checked his cellphone’s location, and noticed it had moved to Bourbon Avenue.

Matthew Tenedorio, 25, had gone out with buddies after consuming dinner together with his mother and father. He was remembered for his childhood excessive jinks together with his cousins, taking part in pranks and combating with Nerf weapons.

Kareem Badawi and Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux had been simply 18. Mr. Badawi had lately completed his first semester on the College of Alabama, the place he majored in mechanical engineering, in keeping with his father.

Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux Credit score... Jennifer Smith Ms. Dedeaux was from Gulfport, Miss. She had simply graduated from highschool within the spring and was enrolling in faculty in New Orleans with plans to turn out to be a nurse.

The violence tore aside households and buddies. Nicole Perez, 27, had simply gotten a promotion on the deli the place she labored. She left behind a 4-year-old son. Two cousins, Reggie Hunter, 37, and Kevin Curry, 38, got here to the town to have a good time the brand new 12 months collectively. Mr. Hunter died, and Mr. Curry was hospitalized with a damaged leg.

Nicole Perez Credit score... Emily Elliott Tiger Bech, a former faculty soccer participant who died, was remembered by his little brother, Jack, in a publish on social media: “Love you all the time brother!”

Some victims, like Mr. Wilkinson, had longstanding ties to New Orleans. Terrence Kennedy, 63, was a lifelong resident of the town and one among 9 siblings, in keeping with one among his nieces, Monisha James. With no kids of his personal, he was all the time able to take care of relations’ youngsters, she stated. At household events, he stored an eye fixed out for plates to clear and drinks to refill.

Terrence Kennedy Credit score... through Monisha James Although many locals keep away from the world besides to work or carry out, Mr. Kennedy liked to individuals watch and hang around exterior of a store on Bourbon Avenue, Ms. James. The household believes that's what drew him to the road on New Yr’s Eve.

“He died doing one thing he preferred to do,” she stated.

Brandon Taylor, 43, was a restaurant prepare dinner and rapper. He often drove greater than an hour from his residence simply south of New Orleans to see his fiancée, Heather Genusa, who lives close to Baton Rouge. Ms. Genusa, 38, recalled that they talked on the cellphone for about six months earlier than assembly in particular person in early 2023.

Brandon Taylor Credit score... through Heather Genusa “I stated as soon as we meet, all the celebs had been going to align,” she stated. “And so they did. They actually did.”

The couple had been planning to maneuver in collectively subsequent month.

In response to the town’s coroner, William Dimaio, 25, from New Jersey, was additionally amongst these killed.

Cecil Wilkinson stated he had hoped to introduce his daughter to Elliot, however had not but had the prospect.

“We liked one another,” he stated. “We all the time appeared out for one another once we was youthful.”

Among the dozens of individuals injured within the assault had been nonetheless hospitalized Saturday. Others had returned residence however had been nonetheless wrestling with what that they had been by means of. Alexis Scott-Windham, 23, of Cellular, Ala., who had gone to New Orleans with buddies to have a good time New Yr’s, stated the attacker’s truck had hit her proper ankle as she rushed from its path. The affect tore pores and skin from the again of her leg and fractured her ankle in a number of locations. She was additionally shot within the foot.

She’s not able to return to New Orleans simply but, however in a month or so she desires to go to the memorial on Bourbon Avenue.

“It may have been me,” she stated.

Because the band performed its remaining notes on the vigil, transferring again to the beginning of its route on the prime of Bourbon Avenue, it handed a younger man and girl who had been holding a giant bouquet of white flowers. They had been in search of their good friend Brooke, they stated, whose brother was Mr. Gauthreaux.

They stood awkwardly. They didn’t fairly know what to say, they stated. All they needed to do was hand over the flowers and provides their grieving good friend a kiss.