‘Brother for life’: man injured in New Orleans attack witnessed friend’s death
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Ryan Quigley was celebrating the new year with former teammate Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech, one of the 14 victims killed. Among those who were injured but survived the deadly New Year’s Day truck attack on New Orleans’ most famous street was a former Princeton University football player whose ex-teammate was murdered by the assailant.
![[two young men smile beside a football field]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0441599ef8d4296367f178ad8d10fc970e8c48ac/0_0_720_405/master/720.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Ryan Quigley, 26, was in New Orleans with Martin “Tiger” Bech – who grew up about a two-hour drive west of the city in Lafayette, Louisiana – to ring in 2025 after both had forged a friendship while playing for Princeton University’s college football team. They had joined other revelers on Bourbon Street when a former US army veteran inspired by the Islamic State (IS) terror group managed to drive a pickup truck into the crowd that had gathered on one of the world’s most festive thoroughfares.
Bech, 27, was one of 14 victims slain before police could fatally shoot the attacker, who had planted undetonated homemade bombs further up Bourbon Street. Quigley was among about 30 who were injured – he was treated at a hospital, was discharged, and has been navigating a physical recovery since his subsequent release from the hospital, according to a GoFundMe campaign established to support him as well as a statement from Princeton’s football team.
The victims on Bourbon Street were targeted after city officials either removed or failed to deploy three different types of barriers that it had and were designed to prevent intentional ramming attacks such as the one on Bourbon Street. At least six of the victims who survived the attack – and the father of a man who was killed – have sued New Orleans’ city government, alleging that it failed to protect New Year’s Day revelers.
