After the brutal attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, multiple families are now starting 2025 without their loved ones. As we reported, a vehicle drove into a crowd of people celebrating the New Year in the French Quarter, killing 14 people and injuring 30.
As the fallout from the attack continues, the identities of the victims have emerged, including an 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux.
Dedeaux’s mother, Melissa, confirmed her daughter’s passing in a statement to ABC News. “She was a sweet person. She was outgoing, she was very loved,” she said of her daughter, who was set to attend nursing school at Blue Cliff College in Mississippi on January 13.
According to the report, Melissa “begged” her daughter to steer clear of Bourbon Street on New Year’s Eve. While her daughter had celebrated there a year prior, Melissa was worried “about the danger of the area.” She also was concerned as she needed her daughter to pick her up early in the morning from her overnight shift at work.
She explained that another family member picked her up that morning, and she sensed something “was wrong.” She then said her brother-in-law “broke the news to her” once she got home.
“She was a good person, and even though she was loved by many, it can happen to anybody,” she said in her statement.
Nikrya’s great-aunt Ahmyryah Israel is also mourning the loss. She told ABC 7 Chicago, “She had her whole life ahead of her. It’s just everything is lost, right now. She was going to start nursing school, because her mom is a nurse, to push the family tradition on.” She continued to say that it “hurts” her that she “went.”
“Can you imagine you have a job, you’re an honor roll student, you kept your grades up, you’re up for the challenge, but you can’t beat this truck?” Israel asked in her statement to the news outlet. “You can’t beat this truck that’s coming at you. What is that? Who does that?”