New Orleans Victim Had Dinner with Parents Before Attack: 'Happy New Year. Please Text Me When You Get Home'

The family of Matthew Tenedorio has confirmed he was one of the fatal victims of Wednesday morning’s truck attack during New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans.

Cathy Tenedorio, Matthew’s mother, told ABC News that Matthew had dinner with his parents on New Year’s Eve before the 25-year-old headed off to Bourbon Street to celebrate with his friends.

Matthew is one of 15 people who died during an attack authorities say was an act of terrorism, the FBI has said. The attacker, who has since been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, used his truck to barrel down Bourbon Street in the city’s popular French Quarter around 3 a.m. on Wednesday before he was killed in a police shootout.

Hours prior to his death, Matthew celebrated part of his New Year’s with dinner with his parents, who reportedly felt unsure about him heading to the party, Cathy told ABC News.

“But all I did was just hug him and tell him, ‘I love you. Happy New Year. Please text me when you get home,’” Cathay said. “And that text never came.” 

On Wednesday morning, the concerned parents started trying to contact Matthew and learned from his friends that the group had been split up amid the attack, per BBC. His friends were unable to locate Matthew after the violence ended, per his parents.

“By noon, I had a good idea that something terrible happened to my son,” his father Louis Tenedorio said, according to ABC News.

The parents began frantically contacting hospitals and eventually ended up at a family reunification center at the University Medical Center hospital. Cathy witnessed “parents screaming and crying” as she herself waited to learn what had happened to her son, she told the outlet.

In a GoFundMe set up by Matthew’s cousins, he is being remembered as “always the one to lighten the mood, able to laugh off life’s challenges and spread positivity wherever he went.” 

“Matthew was a beloved son, brother, uncle, and friend whose laid-back spirit and infectious laughter brought joy to everyone around him,” reads a part of the fundraiser.

Some of the other confirmed victims include Nicole Perez, mom to a 4-year-old; Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, an aspiring nurse; former Princeton football player Martin “Tiger” Bech; and Reggie Hunter, a proud dad, per the BBC.

Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, and college freshman Kareem Badawi, were also killed in the attack, friends and family confirmed to the outlet.

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Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, had an ISIS flag in the truck he used in the attack, the FBI previously said. Authorities said Jabbar pledged his allegiance to ISIS in social media videos shortly before the attack, and that he had joined the terrorist group prior to the summer of 2024.

On Thursday morning, the bureau said Jabbar is believed to have acted alone.