The eight people killed in a truck attack in New York City on Tuesday were two young Americans, a Belgian mother and five Argentine tourists visiting New York City to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation.
Police identified the victims as:
— Darren Drake, 32, of New Milford, New Jersey
— Nicholas Cleves, 23, of New York, New York
— Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, of Belgium
— Hernan Diego Mendoza-Espino, 47, of Argentina
— Alejandro Damian Pagrucco, 47, of Argentina
— Herman Ferruchi, 47, of Argentina
— Diego Enrique Angelini, 47, of Argentina
— Ariel Erlis, 48, of Argentina
The man accused of plowing into the victims on a lower Manhattan bike path Tuesday had apparently been planning the attack for a number of weeks, police officials said today. Besides the eight deaths, 12 people were injured.
Drake would have turned 33 on Nov. 18, according to his father, ABC station WABC-TV in New York reported. Darren was his only child.
According to WABC-TV, Cleves, from Boston, was an only child living with his mother in New York. He rode his bike all the time, WABC-TV said.
Decadt was a mother of two sons, ages 3 years and 3 months. Decadt’s husband, Alexander Naessens, called her death unbearable. She was on a trip with her mother and two sisters at the time of the attack, Naessens said in a statement today translated from his native Flemish.
The five Argentines killed were from the city of Rosario, Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, said today. That city has declared three days of mourning.
“They were five young entrepreneurs, model citizens in Rosario society and I can only imagine with beautiful families,” Macri said in Spanish.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the victims, “Six of them came from other nations here, because they saw New York as a special place to be. And we now, and forever, will consider them New Yorkers.”
