(CNN) — A 19-year-old San Diego State student from Florida was one of the dozens of victims injured when a truck rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during New Year's celebrations. Fourteen people were killed in the attack.
Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims, but some have been identified by their relatives and people close to them.
CNN reported that Steele Idelson is an alumna of Canterbury School in Fort Myers, Florida. Elle Eisele, a University of Georgia student, also went to that high school.
“The Eisele and Idelson families are deeply grateful for the outpouring of thoughts, prayers, and offers of support for our daughters following the tragic attack in New Orleans,” Canterbury said in a statement on behalf of the families to CNN.
The families also thanked medical staff and first responders for their care and swift actions.
Among the 15 killed were a loving father of two, a former college football player, and a student from the University of Alabama during Wednesday’s early hours.
The FBI has identified Texas Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, as the suspect of the attack in the city’s popular French Quarter and is investigating it as an act of terrorism.
Here are the names and lives of the victims CNN has come to know so far:
Tiger Bech
The native of Lafayette, Louisiana, was a former Princeton football player and had been working as a junior trader for capital markets firm Seaport Global Holdings in New York City after graduating in 2021.
Bech was “a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend,” Princeton’s football coach Bob Surace said in a statement on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old had traveled to his home state for the holidays and was planning to fly back to New York on Wednesday morning, according to his older sister Virginia Bech.
Instead, he was caught up in the deadly attack while on his way back to a hotel with his best friend Ryan Quigley, she said.
Bech died from internal injuries including head trauma hours after the attack, his sister said.
“Happy new year” was the last text message he sent to a family group chat, at 1:30 a.m.
“Evil will not prevail,” Virginia Bech told CNN, describing herself as “heartbroken.”
Quigley, Tiger Bech’s friend, is in a stable condition with severe cuts to the head and a broken leg, the sister said citing doctors.
Reggie Hunter
Hunter, 37, was a father of two known for his sense of humor, according to his cousin Shirell Robinson Jackson.
“He loved his kids. He loved, loved, loved his family,” Jackson wrote in a Facebook post in memory of him, calling his death “a punch to the gut.”
Hunter leaves behind his 11-year-old and a one-year-old, according to the cousin.
The Baton Rouge native was at Bourbon Street with another cousin, Kevin Ball, when disaster struck.
After the attack, he was taken to a hospital, where he was still alive when some family members visited him.
But by the time Jackson got to the hospital at 7:20 a.m. he had died from internal injuries, the cousin said.
“He surely didn’t deserve this, none of the victims did,” the cousin wrote on Facebook.
Kareem Badawi
Kareem Badawi, a student from the University of Alabama, was also among the 15 people killed, the school confirmed.
“I learned today that Kareem Badawi, one of our students at The University of Alabama, was killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans,” university President Stuart R. Bell announced in a statement on Facebook. “I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss,” he added.
Badawi’s high school, the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, said it would be holding an evening prayer session on Thursday for Badawi and Parker Vidrine, another former student who was injured in the attack. Both Badawi and Vidrine graduated from the high school in 2024.
The injured
At least two Mexican citizens were among the injured in the New Orleans attack, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack, expressing her “solidarity with the families of the victims and with the people of the United States.”
Two Israeli citizens were injured in the attack, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.
CNN’s Isaac Yee contributed to this report.
