Tiger Bech, one of 14 people who tragically lost their lives during the terrorist attack in New Orleans on Wednesday, was more than just a talented college football player, as described by his former coach.
‘He was truly remarkable,’ Marty Cannon, the principal at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Bech’s former coach, shared with TMZ through Conor McShane on NewsNation. ‘Tiger was much more than just an athlete. He had a multitude of layers to his personality. Football was not the only topic of conversation when it came to Tiger.
‘He was interested in learning about your family, discussing his career goals, and sharing his insights. He had a profound depth to his character, and he was someone we all deeply cared for.’
Fourteen people were killed in the attack along Bourbon Street that officials said was inspired by the Islamic State militant group. The driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar , was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and slamming into the crowd. About 30 people were injured.
The 27-year-old Bech died Wednesday morning at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media outlets citing Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High. Bech attended the high school, where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back, NoLa.com reported.
‘He was an outstanding young man,’ Cannon told News Nation in a separate interview. ‘If you just took his athletic accomplishments, especially in football, you could box it up right here and that legacy would stand alone… but Tiger was much bigger than that.
‘Big loss for us,’ Cannon continued. ‘He was a great young man… Our community is definitely struggling.’
He would go on to gain acceptance and play football at prestigious Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently he was working as an investment trader at a New York brokerage firm.
Cannon said he was charismatic, intelligent and an incredibly talented football player. He regularly returned home to visit his tight-knit family, close friends and people at the school.
Naturally, Bech was home over Christmas.
‘We live in a relatively small community here where not a lot of people leave but many do,’ Cannon said. ‘I’m not surprised at all that Tiger could take off from south Louisiana and go off and get an amazing education at a place like Princeton and then lock himself into a community up there and just flourish. 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 school kick returner and receiver from 2017 to 2019, earning All-Ivy League honors as a returner.
‘He might be the first Tiger to ever play for us, and that nickname kind of described him as a competitor,’ Surace told ESPN. The school’s mascot is the tiger. ‘He was somebody that somehow, like in the key moments, just excelled and was full of energy, full of life.’
Bech has been working at Seaport Global, where company spokesperson Lisa Lieberman could not confirm his death. She told the AP, ‘He was extremely well regarded by everybody who knew him.’
Bech’s younger brother, Jack, is a top wide receiver at Texas Christian University.
In a response to a KLFY-TV report posted on X about Tiger Bech’s death, a post from an account for a Jack Bech on the social media site said: ‘Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.’
Officials have not yet released the names of the 14 people killed in the New Orleans New Year’s Day truck attack , but their families and friends have started sharing their stories.
New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that the names of the dead will be released once autopsies are complete and they’ve talked with the next of kin. A spokesperson for the coroner said Thursday that there were no updates. About 30 people were injured.
Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, stressed there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel.
The New Orleans attack plans also included the placement of crude bombs in the neighborhood in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage, officials said. Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were rendered safe at the scene. Other devices were determined to be nonfunctional.
Investigators also were trying to understand more about Jabbar’s path to radicalization, which they say culminated with him picking up a rented truck in Houston on Dec. 30 and driving it to New Orleans the following night.
The FBI recovered a black IS flag from Jabbar’s rented pickup 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 news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,’ Raia said.
Jabbar also stated he joined IS before last summer and provided a last will and testament, the FBI said.
Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, serving on active duty in human resources and information technology and deploying 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 staff sergeant.
A U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly, said Jabbar traveled to Egypt in 2023, staying in Cairo for a week, before returning to the U.S. and then traveling to Toronto for three days. It was not immediately clear what he did during those travels.
Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbar’s younger brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday it ‘doesn’t feel real’ that his brother could have done this.
‘I never would have thought it’d be him,’ he said. ‘It’s completely unlike him.’
