7-Year-Old Julian Cadman Confirmed Dead In Barcelona Van Attack

More victims of the devastating van attack in Barcelona's popular tourist area Las Ramblas are still being identified, including one young boy who many hoped would be found alive. 7-year-old Julian Cadman was a victim of the Barcelona attack earlier this week, and was one of the youngest people to lose his life at the hands of terrorists that day.

Cadman was in Barcelona with his mother for a family wedding, according to British newspaper The Telegraph. The young boy was initially reported missing, in part because the damage to his body was so extensive that authorities required a DNA match to confirm his identity. His mother Jumarie is still in a coma in a Barcelona hospital.

"As he was enjoying the sights of Barcelona with his mother, Julian was sadly taken from us," the Cadman family said in a statement regarding their beloved son and grandson's death. "He was so energetic, funny and cheeky, always bringing a smile to our faces. We are so blessed to have had him in our lives and will remember his smiles and hold his memory dear to our hearts."

Cadman lived with his Filipino mother and Australian father in Kent, England for four years before moving to Sydney in 2014. The boy's parents are now together in Barcelona while his mother recuperates from the injuries she suffered in the van attack, which includes two broken legs.

The death toll of the attack has not been officially raised yet, but it should be 15 now with Cadman's death. The 14th victim, a woman in the resort town of Cambrils, died Friday, two days after the initial attack in Barcelona — police have linked the death to the same incident, though they have not confirmed how the woman died. None of the suspects involved in the attack have been included in the death toll, but at least five died in a shootout with police in Cambrils.

At seven, the loss of Cadman's young life is an exceptional tragedy, but he wasn't the only child, or youngest victim, involved in the Barcelona attack. A three-year-old Spanish boy also died in the attack, along with his mother — according to The New York Post, the Barcelona natives were just out for a walk when they were hit by the van.

The randomness and indiscriminate nature of victimization is part of what makes these attacks so terrifying. It seems impossible to continue existing in a world where innocent children could die at any moment. But the moment people stop living their lives as normal because of fear is the moment that the terrorists win.