By Crystal Tisme and The Associated Press,
Two Mississippians were among those killed in the New Year’s terror attack in New Orleans.
Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday on social media that Matthew Tenedorio and Nikyra Dedeaux died after a pickup truck barreled down Bourbon Street.
Cathy Tenedorio told ABC News that she last saw her son at dinner on New Year’s Eve before he went out with friends to Bourbon Street.
“All I did was just hug him and tell him, ‘I love you. Happy New Year. Please text me when you get home.’ And that text never came,” Cathy Tenedorio said.
Tenedorio was a graduate of Pearl River Central High School and followed in his father’s footsteps in becoming a team member in the video production department at the Caesars Superdome and the Smoothie King Center.
The Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District and ASM Global released a statement on this loss.
“As a city, state, and region we shall persevere through this senseless tragedy driven by the memory of those like Matthew Tenedorio, and grateful to the NOPD officers and first responders whose actions kept more lives from being taken.”
Dedeaux, 18, traveled from Gulfport to New Orleans with her cousin on Tuesday to celebrate New Year’s Eve, according to NOLA.com.
Zion Parsons, 18, also of Mississippi, said he watched the pickup truck hit his friend, Dedeaux, whom he said dreamed of becoming a nurse.
Parsons described the crowd scattering and the gruesome aftermath.
“Bodies, bodies all up and down the street, everybody screaming and hollering,” Parsons said.
He said he watched as authorities put a tarp over Dedeaux’s body. He later called Dedeaux’s family to tell them what had happened.
“I hadn’t had time to cry up until I called her mother, and she asked me, ‘Where’s my baby?’” Parsons said. “That broke me.”
University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said on social media that an Ole Miss student was critically injured in the attack. Parker Vidrine is a Baton Rouge native and is currently a freshman at the University.
“I have spoken directly with the student’s mother to extend the university’s full support and convey that our campus community is thinking of them during this tremendously difficult time,” Boyce said in the statement. “We join the New Orleans community in grief. As we begin the new year with heavy hearts, let us hold our injured student, their family, the first responders and all those affected by this tragic event in our thoughts and prayers.”
The FBI is investigating the attack in which a U.S. Army veteran drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 14 people.
The driver had posted videos on social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill, President Joe Biden said.
The FBI identified the driver as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar. He was killed in a shootout that injured two New Orleans police officers. Both officers are expected to recover.
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