Orleans attack
A New Year Celebration turned into a disaster with 8 lives being lost in the bustling crowd of New Orleans, to understand this unfortunate reality we have to start with the relatives who were attending the New Year Eve party, Jack Bech and Martin Bech. On December 31, just hours before the clock hit midnight, Bech made a phone call to his brother Jack. New Year was supposed to be a time of happiness but, little did Jack and the rest of the attendees knew that this calamity would forever ruin them for the rest of their lives.
Martin was a vibrant New Yorker,who went to Princeton University, Whereas, Jack a 22 year old was attending a family get together which was in Dallas. The event was taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana. Talking to BBC in an interview Jack stated “It was just an ordinary call giving the feud that we had.” The time when he was talking to his brother telephone call was everything for him, he vividly recalls Tiger unable to finish his food due to the call as he was eating at that time specifying the importance of phone call for Jack.
Unfortunately that was the very last call Jack spoke with his brother as Tiger got brutally murdered. Jack mentioned how sad the last interaction that they had was, he states, “It was the last time I ever spoke with him.”
The gruesome attack occurred in New Orrleans when a mob of people were celebrating new year celebrations in the streets of the nation. This bloodshed was all caused by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US army veterans, who stormed the streets of NOS with his pickup truck finally getting killed by the police in an intense shootout. Furthermore, investigators mentioned how the Jabbar was a single person shooter despite the videos he posted earlier supporting groups targeting weaker people.
This was a tragic event as there were multiple young adults on the party bus who lost their lives in this accident. It is assumed that some of them were Louisiana natives too, like Tiger who was present in the party bus.
Jack, who has always regarded his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration in life, believes that the close-knit strong Bech family will be changed forever.
Most of the family lives in the town of Lafayette which is roughly around two hundred and eighteen kilometers away from New Orleans, approximately one hundred and thirty-six miles.
“This is something we are going to have to deal with, every single day, regardless if we wake up or sleep, it is going to be a struggle,” he said. “Every Christmas, there will be an empty spot at the dinner table during festivities.”
But Tiger said that I know my brother would not want this for us, he would want us to grieve and mourn, instead, everyone should remember him as a fighter.
“In life he always wanted us to keep attacking life…he’d want us to go and be there for each other,” he revealed.
Jack continued, “I informed my family that rather than visiting him two to three times each year, he will be around us every instant.” “As we wake up, as we fall asleep, and as we walk around, and as we are at work, doing whatever. He will be with us.”
Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician who worked for the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, was also one of the casualties of the unfortunate attack that occurred in the early hours of January 1.
October 8th marked Matthew’s 25th birthday, and he had come to Slidell, a little over 30 minutes away from New Orleans, to visit his brother.
His mother, who only recently had been diagnosed with cancer, was also spending time with them.
According to his cousin, Christina Bounds, his family was very cautious about him heading towards the city because there was large crowd, which in turn means there were a lot of dangers.
In the end, he left with two friends despite their concerns. Soon after, with one of her friends being the last to talk, a report was heard of him going missing.
It has been reported that when he was on Bourbon Street, his friends who were with him went a separate way, and during that time the truck belonging to one of the Orleans attack attackers was thrown into the air.
Tenedorio was very frightened by the gunshots and the piercing screams all around him.
The family of the victim accuses that there was a gunfight that broke out on Bourbon Street in which their son lost his life.
As per Ms Bounds, the family’s ordeal has been rendered more unbearable because of the lack of information almost complete isolation that they have experienced from the local bureaucrats. “We had no clue about anything when my aunt (Tenedorio’s mother Cathy) got to the hospital,” she said. “There’s no communication from doctors, hospitals or cops. Nobody.”
“It’s so frustrating because they have no information, and that’s what’s agitating everyone. We’re still trying to comprehend what took place,” Bounds continued. “Was he taken by EMS? Was he in the back of an ambulance? Was he dead right there and then?”
She further stated that these specific details would have made it easier for the people to understand such gruesome situations.
“I have no understanding of what is happening,” she contended. “How is this possible? Did people not know what was happening?”
Children of the departed began a fundraiser to ensure Tenedorio’s funeral goes smoothly. Ms Bounds explains that it was due to his mother’s large liabilities during her medical treatment for cancer that made the achievement somewhat of a challenge.
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Tenedorio also has a cousin in Zach Colgan. He was remembered as a “goofball”, one who hardly took time to make a joke, loved all kinds of animals and told a lot of stories.
“He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy,’ Mr Colgan said to the BBC. ‘It’s sad that a terrorist attack took him…no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless.
Mr Colgan is a former state police officer who served Louisiana and he thinks everyone involved did all they could in an extremely hectic casualty situation.
“I know it’s chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren’t able to get much apart from ‘yes – Matthew was killed’,” he said.
Mr Colgan added, It’d be nice to know a little bit more. “If it was my kid, I’d want to know.”
While his family’s focus remains on the pursuit of justice, Mr Colgan would prefer the emphasis of the public and the state to be on the victims rather than the law enforcement and the measures that could be undertaken in order to avoid the attack, if only there were such a possibility.
“My greatest wish is for each one of them to be honored and never forgotten.,” he stated. “They did not ask for this. Nobody asks for this.”
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