Missing Calif. Man in Europe for First Anniversary Was Killed in Barcelona Attack, Dad Says
A California man who vanished in the chaos of a deadly van attack in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday has been confirmed dead, his father told a local TV station.
While the official identities of any American casualties in the violence have not been confirmed, Jared Tucker’s dad, Dan Tucker, told KGO that he was among those killed. Two friends of Jared and his wife, Heidi Nunes, also confirmed his death to PEOPLE.
Dan said that Jared, a 43-year-old business owner, and Nunes, a 40-year-old teacher, had been in Europe this week for his first anniversary after marrying last year. The two were in Paris before traveling to Spain to see a friend, he said.
Nunes previously spoke out to NBC News about how Jared had gone missing when she was separated from him during the attack, around 6 p.m. Thursday.
Moments before the incident, Jared told his wife he was going to the bathroom, Nunes said. That’s the last time she saw him.
She said they were out enjoying drinks when the violence began, and Dan told KGO that his son and daughter-in-law were walking with their friend soon before the van began plowing through pedestrians, ultimately killing 13 and injuring scores more.
“Next thing I knew there’s screaming [and] yelling,” Nunes told NBC News. “I got pushed inside the souvenir kiosk and stayed there hiding while everybody kept running by screaming.”
“He [Jared] left, and seconds later she [Nunes] was pushed over into the kiosk and she was disoriented trying to find him,” Jared’s brother-in-law, Kalani Kalnui, told ABC News of the couple.
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A State Department spokesman tells PEOPLE they cannot comment at this time on reports of Jared’s death. But earlier Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed that an American had died in the attacks in Spain, which included the rampage down Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas boulevard and, hours later, another vehicle attack in the coastal town of Cambrils, bringing the total death toll to 14.
Authorities have reportedly said they believe both attacks were the work of the same terror group, who may have been prompted to action after their bombing materials blew up in a house on Wednesday. Police are still seeking the driver of the van in Barcelona.
Dan, who owns a pool renovation company with Jared, said his son’s remains were tentatively identified by Nunes on Friday morning, KGO reports.
According to the station, Jared is survived by three teenage daughters, his parents and three sisters. A website set up for his wedding to Nunes shows they were married on Aug. 6, 2016, after becoming engaged on Sept. 10, 2015.
They fell in love in November 2012, only two months after meeting that September, according to the site.
In a statement to KGO via a family spokesperson, Nunes said she “asks that the community and media hold their family up in prayer and asks for the privacy during this difficult time.”
• Reporting by KC BAKER and DIANE HERBST
