The first details of the New Year’s terror attack in New Orleans are beginning to emerge now that the suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American man living in Texas.
One victim is 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, who sneaked out to New Orleans on Tuesday from Gulfport, Mississippi, along with her cousin and a friend, 18-year-old Zion Parsons, to celebrate the New Year on Bourbon Street.
She was one of at least 15 fatalities after Jabbar drove a pickup truck down the French Quarter Street in an act of terrorism.
FIRST VICTIM OF NEW ORLEANS ATTACK IDENTIFIED AS 18-YEAR-OLD NIKYRA DEDEAUX FROM GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI
Nikyra, who was set to begin a nursing program at Blue Cliff College on Jan. 13, came to New Orleans to celebrate the New Year.
Source: BNO News https://t.co/KwYvx2qHde pic.twitter.com/h1oOxMC36f
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 1, 2025
“I just want to see my baby,” Nikyra’s mother Melissa Dedeaux, 40, told Nola.com. “She was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything.”
“As a mother, when my niece and [Parsons] said they covered her with a sheet, I just knew that was it for my daughter,” Melissa Dedeaux said.
Known to her family as “Cheyenne,” she was the third oldest of Melissa Dedeaux’s six children.
“She was my favorite,” Melissa Dedeaux indicated. “She was my child.”
A 2024 graduate of Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, Cheyenne was following in her mother’s footsteps and was set to begin a nursing program at Blue Cliff College on Jan. 13.
“Cheyenne was a very smart and outgoing girl,” Melissa Dedeaux said. “She’s never gotten into any trouble.”
“If she wasn’t at work, she was sleeping or getting together with her girls. She always had carloads of friends,” she continued.
“I didn’t even know she came over here,” Melissa Dedeaux said. “No matter how good you are, how sweet you are, you can be the one that’s buried. Things like this can happen.”
Another victim of the terror attack is 37-year-old Reggie Hunter, a Baton Rouge father of two who reportedly decided on a whim to head to New Orleans for New Year’s Eve.
SECOND VICTIM OF NEW ORLEANS ATTACK IDENTIFIED: FATHER OF 2, REGGIE HUNTER
The second victim of the New Orleans terror attack is 37-year-old Reggie Hunter, a warehouse manager and devoted father of 2 from Baton Rouge, LA.
On a whim, Reggie decided to visit Bourbon Street… https://t.co/Sz6tcZypBQ pic.twitter.com/OD71Zu3NfJ
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 1, 2025
“They decided to go out there because he came in from work and said, ‘Hey, the Sugar Bowl is tomorrow. It’s New Year’s Eve. Let’s go to the city,” said his first cousin Shirell Jackson, who was also struck by the pickup, according to Nola.com.
“Just something so simple. Hey cuz, had, wanna ride me to the city?”
Hunter worked as a warehouse manager for the past six years, and reportedly took pride in his 12-year-old son’s academic accomplishments in the STEM field and in his 18-month old son.
Hunter also loved working out with his family and friends.
“He wanted to be in the gym with his homeboys and cousins,” Jackson said. “And he said, ‘I’m getting swole. I said, ‘Where? You are so little.'”
“He was the city slicker. The tennis shoes have to match the hat,” she said.
She and other relatives never expected this past Christmas to be their last family gathering with Hunter.
“You are praying for a prosperous year in 2025,” Jackson said. “And never do you think this is the news you are going to get.”
The #FBI is seeking information, including photos & videos related to the attack on Bourbon Street. A subject drove a truck into the crowd, killing at least ten people & injuring dozens of others. Visit https://t.co/EfAsddgr0x to upload video & photos. https://t.co/hPhaSDkWmu pic.twitter.com/K0MdKN8h6Z
— FBI New Orleans (@FBINewOrleans) January 1, 2025
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