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The teen, called “Cheyenne” by her family, wasn’t suppose to be in New Orleans, her mother told NOLA.com. Her mother said she snuck away with her cousin and friend.
NEW ORLEANS — 18-year-old Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux was one of the 10 killed in the deadly Bourbon Street attack, according to NOLA.com.
Dedeaux came to visit the city from Gulfport with her cousin and friend to celebrate the New Year. Her mourning mother confirmed that she was killed in the terror attack after the suspect, identified by the FBI as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar drove a truck into the crowd early New Year’s Day.
“I just want to see my baby,” Melissa Dedeaux, 40, said grieving. “She was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything,” she told our partners.
At least 35 others were injured when suspect Jabbar plowed through the bollards, protective barriers, that were down for repairs in the 200 block of Bourbon Street around 3:15 a.m. The suspect shot two New Orleans police officers before he was shot and killed by law enforcement.
Dedeaux, who was called “Cheyenne” by her family, wasn’t supposed to be in New Orleans, her mother told NOLA.com. She said she snuck away with her 18-year-old cousin and their friend Zion Parson, 18.
Parsons said the three of them were leaving Voodoo Chicken & Daquiris on Bourbon near Bienville Street when “out of nowhere,” he heard “commotion” and “banging.”
Melisa Dedeaux’s niece said gunshots rang out, and they started running. Cheyenne ran into the street directly in the path of the barreling truck and suffered horrific injuries.
The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office has not officially confirmed Cheyenne Dedeaux’s death, but Melissa Dedeaux said she knows her daughter was killed.
“As a mother, when my niece and [Parsons] said they covered her with a sheet, I just knew that was it for my daughter,” Melissa Dedeaux told NOLA.com.
The family reconnected with Dedeaux’s distressed niece on Wednesday morning, looking for where the trio parked their car the night before.
Cheyenne was the third oldest among Melissa’s six children. “She was my favorite,” Melissa Dedeaux admitted to our partners. “She was my child.”
Cheyenne graduated from Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 2024 and was scheduled to begin a nursing program at Blue Cliff College on Jan. 13. She was following the lead of her mother, who is also a nurse.
“Cheyenne was a very smart and outgoing girl,” Melissa Dedeaux said. “She’s never gotten into any trouble.”
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