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The family of a missing 63-year-old man has identified him as one of 14 people killed early Wednesday morning after a Texas man barreled a pickup truck down a crowded Bourbon Street.
Terrence “Terry” Kennedy, 63, went to Bourbon Street on New Year’s Eve and was killed early the next morning when 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed through a crowd in the rented truck, killing 14 and injuring at least three dozen others.
Kennedy’s family had spread word that he was missing when he didn’t contact them later on New Year’s Day, according to Kennedy’s niece, Monisha James. He had told family he was going down to Bourbon Street for a drink to celebrate New Year’s Eve the evening before.
James, 43, said her cousin got in touch with someone they knew at the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office who confirmed that her father’s brother was deceased. James said Kennedy was brought to East Jefferson General Hospital, where he died at about 6 a.m. Wednesday. James’ father called her Wednesday when they discovered the news.
“He was screaming, ‘It’s him,'” she said in a Thursday evening interview with The Times-Picayune. “I never really saw my daddy cry.”
James remembered her uncle as a mild-mannered man who was always ready to lend a helping hand.
Kennedy grew up in Uptown New Orleans and graduated from Walter Cohen High School, his family said. Kennedy enjoyed NFL football, James said. He loved the Saints and the Chiefs, but his favorite team was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Kennedy was one of nine children. James said her father’s siblings had lost an older brother years ago but that in the past few years, three more siblings had died due to illness. Kennedy’s death brings the number of surviving siblings to four, a devastating reality for her family, she said.
James called her uncle the “nicest person in the world.” On Wednesday morning, she said, he was “just enjoying his city and not bothering nobody.”
