LAFAYETTE, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California man who was spending his first wedding anniversary overseas was among those killed in a deadly truck attack in Spain, his family said Friday.
Jared Tucker’s sister, Tina Luke, told The Associated Press that Tucker, 42, and his wife, Heidi Nunes-Tucker, 40, were celebrating their honeymoon in Barcelona after saving up for the trip. She said they married a year ago.
Outside his home in San Francisco Bay Area city of Walnut Creek, Tucker’s father, Dan Tucker, showed pictures of his son enjoying the sights of Europe.
“The last week has probably been some of the happiest times of his life. He’s been through some tough stuff, and it’s just neat to see him after eight years of being divorced that he’s now found. … They’re just really great together,” he told the AP, choking up. “That’s him just having a ball.”
“That’s the only consoling part — that he probably died happy,” Dan Tucker said.
The couple, who lived in Lafayette, spent about four days in Paris and planned to spend four days in Barcelona on what was their first international trip, he said.
Nunes-Tucker told NBC News that the couple were having drinks at a patio when her husband said he was going to the bathroom.
“Next thing I know, there’s screaming, yelling,” she said. “I got pushed inside the souvenir kiosk and stayed there hiding while everybody kept running by screaming.”
Jared Tucker worked with his father at a family-owned pool business in the Bay Area since he was 16, Dan Tucker said.
Betty Needham, who works at one of the companies Daniel Tucker owns, said she’s known the younger Tucker for a few years.
“It’s a big loss here for us,” she said. “He’s leaving a big hole here. He was a great guy. Once you meet him, you’d never forget him. He’s always got a smile on his face. He’s got a big smile and a big heart.”
The State Department confirmed earlier Friday that at least one American was killed and one injured in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain.
In remarks to State Department staff on Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed the death and expressed condolences to the victim’s family. He said diplomats from the U.S. consulate in Barcelona are working with local authorities to identify victims and provide assistance to other Americans in need.
The department had said earlier that Spanish authorities had reported that there were still “several” casualties who had not been identified.
Diana Gray, a neighbor of the Tucker couple in Lafayette, California, told the AP that they were happy, loving and had a lot of friends.
Jared Tucker leaves behind three daughters, his sister said in a message posted on a fundraising website.
“Pray for Jared and his family, pray for Barcelona, but most importantly pray that we can someday rid ourselves of the hate that takes our loved ones before their time,” she wrote.
