At New Orleans' St. Louis Cathedral, church leader asks for prayers for victims of truck attack

[January 06, 2025]  By SARA CLINE and MARTHA BELLISLE

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — At a Mass celebrated Sunday at New Orleans' St. Louis Cathedral, just blocks from where a man sped down Bourbon Street in a deadly attack early on New Year's Day, a church leader acknowledged the sense of unease that remains and asked for prayers for victims and their families.

“We can choose to fear," the Very Rev. Patrick Williams told those gathered. “Or we can choose to hope.”

Fourteen people were killed and about 30 were injured in the attack. The attacker, a U.S. citizen who had proclaimed his support for the Islamic State militant group, was fatally shot in a firefight with police.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a period of mourning that will begin Monday, with a different victim being remembered each day.

The Joan of Arc Parade — the first of the city's Carnival season — is set to take place on Monday in the French Quarter, an event that an organizer said she hopes will bring a message of hope and resiliency.

“We are here. We are celebrating life. We are choosing hope and we are choosing joy,” Antoinette de Alteriis, a captain of the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Those killed ranged in age from 18 to 63, with most being in their 20s. Here are their stories:

LaTasha Polk
LaTasha Polk, a nursing assistant from New Orleans and the mother of a teenage boy, was the last victim to be identified, according to her family, who gathered at a vigil Saturday evening to light candles. They said the coroner's office informed them Saturday morning. They had been looking for Polk, who was in her 40s, and were grateful for the closure.

“It was the wrong call we got, but at least we got the call,” said LaTasha Polk's cousin, Sebastian Polk. He said he was all out of tears by the time he arrived at the vigil to honor his cousin, whom he described being as close as a sister.

“Every time you saw her she was smiling,” said another cousin, Courtney Polk, pressing her hands together in front of her face and holding back tears. “It’s hard but we see all the love for her.”

Some of LaTasha’s relatives held each other crying on the curb near a cross where they had placed candles for her and other victims.

“She was a loving person, and for her life to be taken away — unimaginable,” her aunt Kim Polk said.

Edward Pettifer
The family of Edward Pettifer, a 31-year-old British citizen from London, described him as “a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many.”

His stepmother was a former nanny to the Royal Family, and Prince William expressed shock and sadness at the news.

Pettifer’s family said they “will all miss him terribly,” and that their thoughts were with the families of the other victims as well.

Pettifer was the stepson of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was the nanny for both William and his brother, Prince Harry, between 1993 and 1999, including time after the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997.

Brandon Taylor
Brandon Taylor, 43, worked as a restaurant cook in the New Orleans area and loved music, especially rap. He leaves behind his fiancee, who was with him when he was killed.

“No one should ever have to die like that. He didn’t deserve it,” his fiancee, Heather Genusa, 38, told NOLA.com.

Taylor was passionate about concerts and rapping, his friend, O’Kieth Gibson, told NOLA.com.

“He was a fun-loving person, full of energy,” Gibson said. “He was a high-spirited person.”

Elliot Wilkinson
Elliot Wilkinson, 40, was from Slidell, Louisiana. Cecil Wilkinson said in a message to his little brother, Elliot Wilkinson, on Facebook that he was loved “and you will truly be missed.”

“I know life was hard for you at times. But I wasn’t expecting to get the phone call this morning you was one of them that got hit in New Orleans in the French Quarter,” Wilkinson said.

Terrence “Terry” Kennedy
After years working in the service industry and maintenance, New Orleans native Terrence Kennedy spent his retirement doing what he loved: strolling down to catch the ever-present party in the French Quarter.

“Bourbon is like a free party," his niece, Monisha James, told The Associated Press. “He was enjoying his city that he enjoyed for 63 years.” James said her uncle liked to people-watch and often sparked conversations with strangers.

Kennedy had told his sister on New Year’s Eve that he was going out. When he didn’t answer the phone the next morning, the family spent a frantic day searching until the coroner confirmed he died in the attack.

James, 43, described her uncle as a humble helper and a handyman. Whether it was fixing up a house or playing with his nieces and nephews, he was always eager to serve others.

“Just a sweet, kind, loving, helpful person that would not harm anyone,” James said.

Sadly, illness had affected his family in recent years. Four of Kennedy’s siblings died before him, including a sister who passed away a month earlier.

William “Billy” DiMaio
Billy DiMaio, 25, of Holmdel, New Jersey, was humble, gentle-hearted and so devoted to family that he had a tattoo featuring all of his cousins’ names, his parents told NOLA.com.

A New York City-based account executive for the media company Audacy, DiMaio was in New Orleans to celebrate New Year’s Eve and see friends who planned to go to the Sugar Bowl, Tracie and Bill DiMaio told the news site.

“He was a good, humble kid,” Bill DiMaio said. “He loved life.”

Billy DiMaio grew up in Long Island, New York. He graduated in 2022 from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, where he was on the lacrosse team and earned a master’s degree.

He had worked for Audacy since 2023.

“Beyond his professional achievements, Billy will be fondly remembered for his unwavering work ethic, positive attitude, and kindness," Audacy said in an emailed statement.

Hubert Gauthreaux
Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, was from Gretna, Louisiana, the coroner's office said.

Archbishop Shaw High School, in Marrero, Louisiana, posted on Facebook that Gauthreaux was from the class of 2021.

Gauthreaux “was tragically killed in the senseless act of violence that occurred early this morning in the French Quarter,” the Catholic boys school posted Wednesday.

Kareem Badawi
Kareem Badawi, 23, was a University of Alabama freshman. He was a native of Louisiana and a graduate of the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge.

“My son was full of life,” his father Belal Badawi said in an interview.

Back home in Baton Rouge for winter break, Badawi went to New Orleans with friends to celebrate the new year, his father said. After they saw the news of the truck attack, they tried to reach Kareem, but he didn't answer.

Long Island, New York residents Louis Tenedorio, left, and his wife, Cathy Tenedorio, embrace on by a memorial Bourbon Street and Canal Street in New Orleans, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, where their son, Matthew Tenedorio, was killed as one of the victims of the New Year's Day deadly truck attack and shooting. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

“Then I saw his phone when I tracked it was in the area that it happened,” Belal Badawi said. “So, then we knew that’s something wrong. He’s not answering."

“I lost my son. He’s a good boy,” Badawi said of his son. “Unfortunately, his life ended that quick and with no reason. Just nothing he did to deserve for somebody to come and kill him.”

Andrew “Drew” Dauphin
Andrew Dauphin, 26, of Montgomery, Alabama, was a 2023 graduate of Auburn University, according to a post on the social platform X by Christopher B. Roberts, the Alabama university's president.

“Words cannot convey the sorrow the Auburn Family feels for Drew’s family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time,” Roberts said. “Our thoughts are with the Dauphin family and the families of all the victims of this senseless tragedy.”

Dauphin was a supplier process engineer at the American Honda Motor Company in Birmingham, Alabama, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Matthew Tenedorio
Matthew Tenedorio, 25, was from Picayune, Mississippi, the coroner's office said.

His mother, Cathy Tenedorio, arrived early to a Saturday vigil in New Orleans with friends and family. She told The Associated Press that she was moved by the flood of condolences and the graciousness of strangers coming to pay their respects.

“Now we have to figure out how to live without him,” she said, her voice breaking. “He has a beautiful German shepherd that’s looking for him, it’s the saddest thing, he keeps coming up to me, like ‘Where’s Matthew? You smell like him but you’re not him.”

A GoFundMe page created by a cousin says Matthew was an audiovisual technician at the Superdome.

“He was a wonderful kid,” Louis Tenedorio added. “He loved people. He loved animals. He always had a smile. So many friends."

Nikyra Dedeaux
Nikyra Dedeaux, 18, of Gulfport, Mississippi, dreamed of becoming a registered nurse, said a friend, Zion Parsons. Dedeaux had a job at a hospital and was set to start college and begin working towards her goal.

“She had her mindset — she didn’t have everything figured out but she had the plan laid down,” Parsons said.

Parsons, also of Gulfport, was celebrating New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street when a vehicle appeared and plowed into Dedeaux.

“A truck hit the corner and comes barreling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” Parsons told The Associated Press. “It hit her and flung her like at least 30 feet and I was just lucky to be alive."

Reggie Hunter
A 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Reggie Hunter had just left work and headed to celebrate New Year’s with a cousin when the attack happened, his first cousin Shirell Jackson told NOLA.com.

Hunter died and his cousin was injured, Jackson said. The coroner's office said he was from Prairieville, Louisiana.

Martin “Tiger” Bech
Tiger Bech was a 27-year-old former high school and college football player from Louisiana. Bech also played football at Princeton University before graduating in 2021.

Kim Broussard, athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, told NOLA.com that Bech attended the high school, where he played as a wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back.

Marty Cannon, STM principal and a former coach, said Bech was charismatic, intelligent and an incredibly talented football player. He regularly returned home to visit his tight-knit family, close friends and people at the school. He was home over Christmas.

“We live in a relatively small community here where not a lot of people leave but many do," Cannon said. “I'm not surprised at all that Tiger could take off from south Louisiana and go off and get an amazing education at a place like Princeton and then lock himself into a community up there and just flourish. He’s that kind of guy.”

Bech worked at Seaport Global. “He was extremely well regarded by everybody who knew him," said company spokesperson Lisa Lieberman.

Nicole Perez
Nicole Perez, 27, was a single mother to a 4-year-old son and worked hard to make life better for her family, according to her employer.

Perez was recently promoted to manager at Kimmy’s Deli in Metairie, Louisiana, and “was really excited about it,” deli owner Kimberly Usher said in an interview with the AP. Usher confirmed Perez’s death through her sister, who also works at the deli.

Usher said Perez would walk in the morning to the deli, which opened for breakfast, and ask lots of questions about the business side of the operation. She was permitted to bring her son, Melo, to work.

“She was a really good mom,” said Usher, who started a GoFundMe account to cover Perez’s burial costs and help with expenses for her son, who “will need to transition into a new living situation,” the donation request says.

Injured in the attack
— Ryan Quigley, who was a teammate of Bech’s at Princeton, was with him when they were struck by the truck. Quigley was injured, according to family and friends.

“Ryan is doing okay. He is stable and resting in the company of his family and friends,” the Quigleys said in an update on a GoFundMe page set up by his friends. “Ryan loves you all. Please keep the Bech family, the other families, and all of those affected by this tragedy in your prayers. Thank you all.”

— Heaven Sensky-Kirsch said her father, Jeremi Sensky, underwent 10 hours of surgery for injuries that included two broken legs. He had been ejected from the wheelchair he was using when the attack happened, Sensky-Kirsch said in a phone interview from a hospital intensive care unit.

Sensky, 51, who works in the family’s tree service business, had driven from his home in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, to New Orleans to celebrate the holiday. Sensky and two friends had been having pizza, his daughter said. Sensky left them to return to his hotel on Canal Street because he felt cold, she said.

Sensky-Kirsch said others could see the attacker coming and were able to run out of the way, but her father “was stuck on the road.” When he didn’t return to the hotel, they went to look for him, she said.

“We thought he was dead,” Sensky-Kirsch said. “We can’t believe he’s alive.”

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Bellisle reported from Seattle. Jack Brook and Sharon Lurye in New Orleans, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, Travis Loller in Nashville, Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

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