Honeymoon trip ends in heartbreak
Calif. hubby is among 13 slain in rampage
They were on a romantic tour of Europe — until their honeymoon ended in horror.
Jared Tucker, a 42-year-old dad from California, had stepped away from his wife to look for a bathroom when he was murdered by the Barcelona terrorists on Thursday.
“I just don’t understand it,” his father, Dan Tucker, told KNTV in San Jose.
“It’s just hard to understand how anything like that could happen. What’s really bizarre is — what are the chances of one person in the whole United States being in Barcelona and being involved, out of the 13 people that were fatally attacked by the terrorists, would be Jared?”
Tucker, a construction worker with three teenage daughters, and his wife, Heidi Nunes, got married a year ago but delayed their honeymoon until this summer, his father said.
The pair spent four days in Paris before moving on to Barcelona, where they were visiting a friend in the seaside Spanish city.
The Walnut Creek couple had just enjoyed drinks on a patio in the tourist area of Las Ramblas, when Tucker went searching for a bathroom while Nunes checked out some jewelry in the area.
“Moments later, all hell broke loose, and Heidi was swept up in the terrified crowd, and she lost sight of Jared,” Tucker’s brother-in-law, Kalani Kalanui, told ABC7 in San Francisco.
Nunes identified her husband’s mains at the morgue Friday.
Tucker ran a swimming-pool-resurfacing business in Martinez, Calif., with his father. His wife is a sixth-grade teacher.
“I know how loved Mrs. NunesTucker is, and while we can not be with her physically to pray with her, I trust that God will provide comfort and peace that ‘transcends all understanding’ to Mrs. Nunes-Tucker during this difficult time,” El Sobrante Christian School said in a statement on Facebook.
The 13 slain and 120 wounded victims hail from 34 countries — a testament to the city’s global popularity.
A 3-year-old Barcelona boy was enjoying a sunny afternoon on the Las Ramblas promenade with several family members, including his mom and her uncle, 65-year-old Francisco Lopez Rodriguez, when the terroists’ van careened into them, the Spanish news outlet Republica reported. All three died in the attack.
Luca Russo, 25, an engineer from the northern Italian province of Treviso, was visiting Barcelona with his fiancée, Marta Scomazzon, when he was killed.
In June, Russo posted a now-haunting quote on Facebook: “We are born without bringing anything, we die without taking away anything. And in the middle we argue for something.”
Fellow Italian, Bruno Gulotta, 35, was holding hands with his 5-year-old son, Alessandro, when the van came barreling toward them.
His wife, Martina, who was carrying their 1-year-old daughter, Aria, managed to pull Alessandro to safety, but Bruno Gulotta was struck and killed before their eyes, the Guardian reported.
He was remembered by colleagues at Tom’s Hardware, where he worked in sales and marketing, as being devoted to both his job and young family.
“He was there on vacation with his companion and his two kids. He was posting on Facebook, and everything seemed like a typical vacation: a photo from Cannes, one from Las Ramblas in Barcelona. And then something that no one expects: the death of a young man, father and partner of the mother of his two children,” Roberto Buonanno, the country manager for Tom’s Hardware Italy, wrote in a statement.
“We put ourselves in the shoes of little Alessandro, who is about to start elementary school knowing his and his
family’s life will never be the same again. And we think of baby Aria . . . who will never know her dad.”
Elke Vanbockrijck, a 44-year-old Belgian national who worked at a bank, also died in the attack while vacationing in Barcelona with her husband, a police officer, and two sons, 10 and 14.
Her town of Tongeren created a “memorial book” in her honor.
“She was always positive,” Arnould Partoens, president of the KFC Heur Tongeren soccer team, told ABC News.
Vanbockrijck was at the soccer club “nearly every day,” taking her sons to and from practice.
“The mother was in the wrong moment and the wrong place,” Partoens said.
Pepita Codina, 75, from the town of Hipolit de Voldrega in Spain, was also among those killed, as was a 74-year-old Portuguese woman who was traveling with her 20-year-old granddaughter.
A Canadian national also died, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
“We join Spain and countries around the world in grieving the senseless loss of so many innocent people,” Trudeau wrote in a statement.
“We must stand firm against the spread of hate and intolerance in all its forms. These violent acts that seek to divide us will only strengthen our resolve.”
Ana Maria Suarez, 61, was identified as the sole fatality in a second car attack later Thursday in the seaside resort of Cambrils, according to authorities.
One family on Friday was still frantically searching for their loved one — 7-year-old Julian Alessandro Cadman, a British-Australian who became separated from his mom, Jom, as the chaos unfolded.
“Julian is seven years old and was out with Jom when they were separated, due to the recent terrorist activity. Please share if you have family or friends in Barcelona,” the boy’s grandfather, Tony Cadman, pleaded on Facebook.
Julian’s mom, who was in Barcelona with her son for a wedding, is in serious but stable condition at an area hospital.
A longtime family friend told Sydney’s 2GB Radio that Julian’s dad was “absolutely beside himself ” when he got the news that his son was missing.
“He can’t do much more than sort of put one foot in front of another at the moment,” the friend, identified only as Scott, said.
“I need to know something, I can’t believe 10 hours can pass and they can’t link a mother and a son together. He’s obviously somewhere, we just need to know where.”