Tiger Bech, a former college football player and one of 14 people killed during Wednesday's terrorist attack in New Orleans, was more than just a star on the gridiron, according to his former coach.
“That guy was unbelievable,” said Marty Cannon, principal at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Bech's former coach. he told TMZ. 'Tiger wasn't just a football player. He had a lot of depth to him. You rarely even talked about football with Tiger.
'He's talking about your family. He's talking about his career aspirations, things he's learning about. “He was a deep and gentle person who we really loved.”
Fourteen people were killed in the attack along Bourbon Street that authorities say was inspired by the Islamic State militant group. The driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was shot dead in a shootout with police after driving his truck at full speed around a barricade and crashing into the crowd. About 30 people were injured.
Bech, 27, died Wednesday morning at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media, which cited Kim Broussard, athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High. Bech attended high school, where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner, and defensive back. NoLa.com reported.
“He was an exceptional young man,” Cannon said. news nation in a separate interview. 'If you just took his athletic achievements, especially in football, you could lump them together right here and that legacy would stand alone… but Tiger was so much bigger than that.
Bech played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner, and defensive back in high school and, after graduating from Princeton, began working in the financial industry in New York.
Marty Cannon, principal at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Bech's former coach, described his former student as more than just a football player.
“Big loss for us,” Cannon continued. “He was a great young man… Our community is definitely struggling.”
He would gain acceptance and play football at the prestigious Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently, he worked as an investment trader at a New York brokerage firm.
Cannon said he was charismatic, intelligent and an incredibly talented soccer player. He regularly returned home to visit his close-knit family, close friends, and people from school.
Naturally, Bech was home for Christmas.
“We live in a relatively small community here where not a lot of people leave, but a lot,” Cannon said. “It doesn't surprise me at all that Tiger could take off from south Louisiana and get an incredible education in a place like Princeton and then lock himself into a community there and just thrive. He's that kind of guy.
Princeton Tigers football coach Bob Surace said Wednesday that he had been texting with Bech's father, sharing memories of the player, who was a kick returner and receiver at the school from 2017 to 2019, earning honors. All-Ivy League returner.
“He might be the first Tiger to play for us, and that nickname described him as a competitor,” Surace told ESPN. The school mascot is the tiger. “He was someone who somehow, like in key moments, stood out and was full of energy, full of life.”
Bech has been working at Seaport Global, where company spokeswoman Lisa Lieberman could not confirm her death. She told the AP: “Everyone who knew him thought highly of him.”
Bech's younger brother, Jack, is one of Texas Christian University's top wide receivers.
Bech is seen playing at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Bech is seen playing for Princeton against the Brown Bears during an Ivy League matchup.
Bech earned All-Ivey honors as a punt returner. He is believed to be the Tigers' first 'Tiger'.
In response to a KLFY-TV report published on You inspired me every day now you can be with me every moment. I have this T family, don't worry. This is for us.'
Authorities have not yet released the names of the 14 people who died in the New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans, but their families and friends have begun sharing their stories.
New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement Wednesday night that the names of the dead will be released once autopsies are completed and relatives have been spoken to. A coroner's spokesman said Thursday there were no updates. About 30 people were injured.
Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, emphasized that there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and Wednesday's explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck filled with fireworks outside Trump's hotel in Las Vegas.
The attack plans in New Orleans also included placing crude bombs in the neighborhood in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage, authorities said. Two improvised explosive devices abandoned in refrigerators several blocks away were brought to safety at the scene. Other devices were determined to be non-functional.
Tiger Bech (left) is pictured after a successful duck hunt in his native Louisiana.
Investigators were also trying to understand more about Jabbar's path to radicalization, which they say culminated when he picked up a rental van in Houston on Dec. 30 and drove it to New Orleans the next night.
The FBI recovered a black ISIS flag from Jabbar's rented van and reviewed five videos posted to Facebook, including one in which he said he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned that news headlines would not focus on him. in the “war between believers and disbelievers,” Raia said.
Jabbar also stated that he joined ISIS before last summer and provided a last will and testament, the FBI said.
Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, served on active duty in human resources and information technology and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of master sergeant.
A U.S. government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Jabbar traveled to Egypt in 2023, staying in Cairo for a week, before returning to the United States and then traveling to Toronto for three days. It was not immediately clear what he did during those trips.
Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbar's younger brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday that “it doesn't seem real” that his brother could have done this.
“I never would have thought it would be him,” he said. “It's completely different from him.”