Wife of Bay Area terror attack victim speaks out

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Saturday, August 19, 2017
VIDEO: Bay Area woman fears husband dead after Barcelona attack
The wife of Jared Tucker describes the moments before and after the tragic attack in Barcelona.

LAFAYETTE, Calif. -- The family of an East Bay man celebrating his first anniversary with his wife in Barcelona believes he was one of those killed in Thursday's terror attack.

VIDEO: Family: Bay Area man is victim of Barcelona attack

Jared Tucker's wife, Heidi Nunes Tucker, said, as of Friday afternoon, she was waiting to identify a body, a day after a van crashed into a crowded pedestrian walkway the Spanish city's Las Ramblas district.

The couple had just finished having drinks at a sidewalk café and began wandering along La Rambla when Jared Tucker, a 43-year-old resident of Lafayette, went to find a restroom. Less than a minute later, chaos broke out, his wife said.

"There was screaming and yelling and sirens and crying and everybody was running," Nunes Tucker said. "I got shoved into the souvenir kiosk and was able to kind of duck into there with a small group of people."

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Eventually, she said, police directed the group from the kiosk and out of the area, further and further away from where she last saw her husband.

Nunes Tucker has spent the last day trying to find her husband, but she says his name has not been part of lists at the emergency centers and she has not seen photos or his body. She has not heard from him since the attack.

Jared's father told ABC7's Leslie Brinkley that his son was a great guy with a large circle of friends and was loved by everybody. His wife said the same.

"Jared has the most magnetic personality of anybody you will ever meet," Nunes Tucker said. "He is fun and you want to be around him, and people love him ... He would give you the shirt off his back, he would give you the beer in his hand. He would do anything for any one of his friends."

The couple left for a two-week European vacation on Aug. 6, their first wedding anniversary, and explored Paris and Venice before traveling to Barcelona Tuesday. They were scheduled to return home on Sunday.

PHOTOS: Images from scene of struck pedestrians in Barcelona

Dan Tucker says the family has started planning a memorial service at a church in Walnut Creek.

Jared's immediate family includes his wife, three teenage daughters and a step-son, his mother and father, a brother, and three sisters.

For now, Nunes Tucker is asking for prayers.

"If our community could continue to pray for whatever the outcome of this is, I would really appreciate it, our family would really appreciate it, our friends would really appreciate it."

A GoFundMe page has been created for the family of the victim. Click here if you'd like to help.