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Family, friends and the Palestinian American community are mourning the loss of Kareem Badawi, who died in the New Year's attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

The rampage on the crowded iconic street in the city's French Quarter killed 15 (including the suspect) and wounded around 35, with 18-year-old Badawi from Baton Rouge among the youngest victims.

The first-year mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama was with his high school friend Parker Vidrine, in critical condition following the attack, to ring in the new year.

Belal Badawi, Kareem's father, has smart and polite, and has condemned the suspect, a Muslim convert, as not representing their faith.

"He also just loved his friends. He had a lot of friends here and at school. He enjoyed his social life, a good person, always treating people with respect. He loved people and loved to build relationships and friends," he .

Belal described his son's trip to New Orleans as a typical destination for those who simply wanted to enjoy the festivities.

"He just wanted to enjoy his life," he said of his son, describing New Orleans for the New Year as a place where "everybody goes like Dubai for the holiday break."

Belal Badawi also emphasised that the attack with the suspect identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Muslim convert, does not represent their religion.

"Kareem did no harm to anyone," Arab News reported Belal Baddawi as saying. "[Jabbar's] evil came and did what it did. I don’t think this is Islam. It is not the religion of our people. It is wrong. What kind of people would hurt or harm civilians, innocent people and others?"

The suspect, a US military veteran from Texas, had posted videos expressing his support for Islamic State.Ìý

The Council on American-Islamic Relations emphasised the widespread Muslim condemnation of Islamic State, issuing a following the attack, saying, "May God comfort the families of the victims, heal the injured and protect humanity from those who dare to commit such cowardly acts of mass violence."

Separately, an attack done with a Tesla cyber truck in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on the same day was allegedly committed by a suspect who may have served at the same military base as the New Orleans attack suspect. Investigators have reportedly been looking for links between the two.