iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Mourners gathered in lower Manhattan Thursday evening to honor the eight killed and 12 wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday.
Attendees converged on Pier 40 at West Houston Street, which is where the Tuesday afternoon attack began when a truck driver mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a bike path. The suspect drove south for about a mile, leaving a trail of bodies and mangled bicycles in his wake.
Participants marched south along the esplanade to Pier 25, “paying respects at designated points along the path,” Connie Fishman, executive director of Hudson River Park Friends, said in a statement ahead of the vigil. Remarks were then made Pier 25, just north of where the attack ended, when the suspect crashed into a school bus and was shot by a police officer.
Two Americans were among those killed in the attack: Darren Drake and Nicholas Cleves.
Darren Drake, 32, of New Milford, New Jersey would have turned 33 on Nov. 18, according to his father. Darren Drake was his only child.
“I’m not angry at all,” Darren Drake’s father, Jimmy Drake, told reporters Wednesday. “I’m absolutely hurt.”
Alex Silverstein, president of Unified Digital Group, where Cleves, 23, of New York City, worked, described him in a statement as “a brilliant, humble, compassionate young professional.”
“Nicholas was wonderful with people. He was polite, funny, and, above all, considerate in action. … He was composed, accepting, and open to all. It pains me greatly to reflect that we can no longer experience his unique gifts. A growing light has been senselessly extinguished,” Silverstein said. “I was truly blessed to call Nicholas Cleves my colleague and friend.”
Five Argentines were killed, identified as Hernan Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernan Ferruchi, the country’s consulate in New York City said.
The victims were from the city of Rosario, Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, said.
“They were five young entrepreneurs, model citizens in Rosario society and I can only imagine with beautiful families,” Macri said in Spanish.
The eighth victim was Ann-Laure Decadt, 31, of Belgium. She left behind two sons — a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old.
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.
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.”
Besides the eight deaths, 12 people, including two children and two school staff members, were injured.
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