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A father talks about losing his 18-year-old son in the New Orleans attack

An officer walks along Conti Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon streets, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
George Walker IV/AP
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AP
An officer walks along Conti Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon streets, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

We're learning more about some of the victims of the attack. Drew Hawkins of the Gulf States Newsroom reports on how one family has been devastated by their loss.

DREW HAWKINS, BYLINE: Kareem Badawi just finished his first semester at the University of Alabama, where he was studying engineering. His father, Belal Badawi, says he was an 18-year-old full of life.

BELAL BADAWI: He just loved everything. He loved sport and he played baseball, played basketball. He played football.

HAWKINS: Badawi says his son came home to Baton Rouge for the winter break, and he said he wanted to go to New Orleans with a group of friends.

BADAWI: So he said, Dad, I mean, everybody goes to New Orleans, and I would love to go and celebrate the new year over there. I said, OK, go ahead, son. Just be careful, you know?

HAWKINS: When Kareem didn't answer his phone the next morning, his family tracked his location. They saw he wasn't far from where a man drove a white pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street. They headed straight to New Orleans and waited hours before the FBI met with them to tell them Kareem had been killed.

BADAWI: And I sent my son to have a new year and a party with his friends and - I don't know, ma'am. I mean, what did my son do to get killed?

HAWKINS: Badawi says his family is struggling to make sense of this. They're Muslim, and they've seen reports connecting the suspect to the terror group ISIS.

BADAWI: Does not represent Islam. Does not represent anything, you know?

HAWKINS: A vigil is set to be held at Kareem's former high school in Baton Rouge tonight.

For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Drew Hawkins is the health equity reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom. He covers stories related to health care access and outcomes across the region, with a focus on the social factors that drive disparities.

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