NICE, France — The truck driver killed by police after
mowing down dozens of revelers in the French seaside city of Nice had a
"violent" past, but was not previously the subject of a terrorism
investigation, French prosecutors said Friday.
Officials at a news conference described what they knew
about the suspect while confirming that at least 84 people were killed —
including 10 children — while 202 others were wounded. Of the 52 people in
critical condition, 25 remained on life support, said French prosecutor
Francois Molins.
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French President Francois Hollande earlier said that those
in critical condition were "between life and death."
Image: Suspected Nice truck driver Lahouaiej Bouhlel's French
resident card
Suspected Nice truck driver Lahouaiej Bouhlel's French
resident card, according to senior U.S. military officials. NBC News
The 31-year-old driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been
detained in March and convicted of voluntary violence with a weapon. The
minister of justice said the arrest involved a road rage incident in which
Bouhlel used a wooden pallet as a weapon against another person, and he was
given a six-month suspended sentence and fined 1,000 euros.
Prosecutors said he was also known to police "due to
threats, violence and petty theft" between 2010 and 2016.
But it was unclear whether Bouhlel, a Tunisian-born delivery
man and married father living in Nice, had any ties to terrorist groups.
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Experts Say
"I must remind you that this type of action is very
much within the framework of the permanent call for murder of terrorist
organizations," Molins said.
Bouhlel had used a bike to get to a refrigerator truck
rental company before setting off on his rampage around 10:45 p.m. local time,
prosecutors said. He barreled the truck down a packed street in the coastal
city for just over a mile, as crowds were gathered for Bastille Day.
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The celebrations were transformed into scenes of chaos and
carnage after the white vehicle careened down the packed promenade, creating a
trail of death and destruction.
People were knocked down and thrown about like bowling pins
and blood stained the pavement. Sirens and screams filled the air.
Amid the pandemonium, Bouhlel shot at three officers who
confronted him in his truck near a hotel. He continued to drive for several
hundred feet before exchanging gunfire with police, officials said.
When the hail of bullets subsided, they "eventually found
the driver dead in the passenger seat," Molins said.
Bouhlel's bicycle was discovered inside the truck and an
automatic handgun and a magazine and cartridges were located inside the cabin —
along with a fake Kalashnikov, a fake M-16, a malfunctioning grenade, a map and
a phone. An identity card and credit card were also retrieved.
The phone was being examined for any evidence, including
whether Bouhlel might have traveled to Syria, officials said.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed to NBC
News that there is no evidence showing that Bouhlel was on a U.S. watch list or
that he ever visited America.
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On Friday, his truck was still parked where the deadly spree
ended. Investigators pored over the scene under a hot sun as authorities
maintained a wide perimeter.
One witness said that the truck driver pulled out a handgun
and recounted how he found himself "in the middle of the gun
shooting."
It was unclear whether the driver acted alone, and police
arrested Bouhlel's ex-wife on Friday, although charges were not known, a senior
French official told NBC News. One neighbor described Bouhlel as "a
handsome man" who was "always alone."
No terror group has claimed responsibility for the massacre.
The promenade, typically teeming with tourists, was quiet
Friday and people laid flowers at makeshift memorials. Signs of the previous
night's horror were everywhere: a purse lying on the ground, a trampled
bicycle, broken glass in the street.
The timing — equivalent to striking the U.S. on the Fourth
of July — hit especially hard, one local business owner told NBC News.
The owner of Le Queenie, the oldest brasserie on the
promenade, said his restaurant was full when the truck began its deadly drive.
Hours later, bodies still lay where they fell.
"It was like a riot with people screaming," he
said.
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Earlier Friday, Hollande declared three days of national
mourning and flew to Nice immediately after chairing an emergency meeting of
the security and defense council.
"Terrorism is a threat that weighs heavily upon France
and will continue to weigh for a long time," Prime Minister Manuel Valls
said after the emergency meeting. "We are facing a war that terrorism has
brought to us."
Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve joined the
president in Nice, where they met with police and local officials before going
to a hospital to visit the wounded.
France has been under a state of emergency since a deadly
spree of terror attacks in Paris in November.
It was due to be lifted on July 26 — but those plans were
put on hold in wake of the slaughter in Nice.
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World leaders were quick to offer solidarity and condolences
over the attack, with President Barack Obama offering "any
assistance" that France might need to investigate and "bring those
responsible to justice."
Pope Francis also lent support, with the Vatican saying:
"We condemn in the strongest way every demonstration of senseless
violence, of hatred, terrorism and any attack against peace."
As investigators hunted for clues behind a potential motive,
the identities of those he killed began trickling out.
Interpol said it was sending a team to Nice to assist with
victim identification — and carry out real-time checks on the agency's
terrorism databases.
Two Americans — a father and his 11-year-old son — were
among the victims.
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The State Department said it was working with French
officials to determine if other U.S. citizens were injured in the attack.
Nearly 40 injured people were brought to the Lenval children's
hospital following the incident — all but nine were children and teens. The
youngest victim was just around 6 months old, according to hospital spokeswoman
Stephanie Simpson.
"They were in a bad state ... A lot of trauma, broken
legs," she told NBC News, adding that two of the children did not survive.
Because the hospital only treats children, the adults who
came in were transferred to other hospitals. Three have since died, Simpson
said.
She praised hospital staff for their response to the unprecedented
crisis.
"Our staff was really ready for this and really
prepared — even expecting, because Nice was really on a red mark for
attacks," Simpson said. "We were really ready."
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The dazzling Bastille Day fireworks over the Bay of Angels
in the southern French city of Nice had just ended on Thursday night, and the
palm tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, which hugs the horseshoe-shaped
waterfront, was jammed with people — young, old, French, foreign.
Parents pushed strollers past posh hotels as dance music
thumped from nearby clubs. Young partiers strolled toward the bars.
The scene, on the day France celebrates the birth of its
democracy, was as close to carefree as things get in a country perpetually on
alert to terror.
PHOTOS: Scenes of Devastation After Truck Kills Revelers
Not far away, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old
small-time criminal from Nice, allegedly climbed into a white 19-ton
refrigerator truck he'd rented three days earlier. It was 10:45 p.m.
Driving slowly, the young father maneuvered past the
Fondation Lenval children's hospital and on to the promenade, which police had
closed to cars for the celebration.
That's when authorities say he revved the truck's engine and
began running people down.
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At first, it seemed like a terrible mistake. "Nobody
knew what to make of it," Ryan Hubbs, an American on vacation, said.
But as the truck kept barreling forward, and witnesses heard
gunshots, it became clear that this was no accident.
German tourist Richard Gutjahr noticed the chaos from a
first-floor hotel balcony and grabbed his camera. His footage captured police
officers running after the truck, and a motorcyclist, perhaps an officer,
leaping from his bike and onto the truck's driver's side door before falling
off. The officers fired on the truck in a desperate bid to stop it.
Bouhle hit the gas.
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The truck plowed on through the crowd, crushing pedestrians
and sending debris flying. People screamed and ran, scooping up kids and
grabbing friends and loved ones. Some leaped over a rocky barrier to the beach
a few feet below. Others, unable to move quick enough, dropped to the ground
and cowered.
"He was mowing people down," Dominique Molina,
vacationing with her husband and son, told NBC San Diego. "I can't even
tell you how many people I saw die in front of my eyes."
Image: A body is seen on the ground after at least 30 people
were killed in the southern French town of Nice when a truck ran into a crowd
celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday
A doll lies next to a body after at least 30 people were
killed in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille
Day national holiday on July 14. ERIC GAILLARD / Reuters
Melka Tinkel, visiting with her 17-year-old daughter, along
with her sister and infant niece, heard what they thought were gunshots. Unsure
who, or how many, were attacking, they threw themselves down and tried to stay
quiet, covering the baby's mouth. "We literally were crying and
praying," Tinkel told KNBC in Los Angeles. "I mean, we were
terrified."
The truck kept driving, swerving at his targets as a mass of
people in front of him ran, witnesses said.
"I looked behind me and there was this huge wall of
people rushing up behind us," said Simon Saunders, an Englishman who lives
in Nice. "Yelling and screaming. I grabbed my friend and pulled us into a
bar out of the way of the crowd rushing up the street. "
Image: Dozens were killed in the southern French town of
Nice when a truck ran into a crowd
Bodies are seen on the ground after dozens were killed in
Nice. ERIC GAILLARD / Reuters
Eric Dratell, an American lawyer who lives in London and was
on vacation with his wife, was having dinner at a restaurant on the beach below
the promenade. They were paying the bill when they heard gunfire. "We
started running for cover," he said. "People started jumping from
promenade level onto the beach. A guy jumped on my wife."
PHOTOS: World Shows Solidarity with Nice Rampage Victims
"All of a sudden, thousands of people started running
toward us," Australian tourist Sophie Sanderlands told told the local
morning show Sunrise. "We had no choice but to run with them." Along
the way she saw abandoned strollers, people crammed into restaurants for
shelter, people pulling curtains across their windows.
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Simon Coates, a British lawyer, told the BBC that he got
separated from his wife and as he searched for her, he saw horribly disfigured
bodies, torn apart, stripped of clothing, shoes and purses scattered about. He
said he saw mothers next to dead children.
He came across the truck, stopped now, with police officers
approaching, guns drawn. Nearby, he found his wife.
Bouhlel had traveled about 1.2 miles, the onslaught lasting
just a few minutes. In his wake, people wept over bodies. Lampposts lay
shattered in the street, road signs crushed.
Image: A man walks through debris on the street the day
after a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores celebrating the
Bastille Day July 14 national holiday on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice
A man walks through debris scattered on the street the day
after the high speed killing. ERIC GAILLARD / Reuters
Later, authorities tallied the toll: 84 dead, including 10
children, and 202 wounded, with more than 50 in critical condition. Among the
dead were a father and young son from Austin, Texas.
Outside the Hotel Mercure, Nader El Shafei, a former banker
from Cairo, saw the truck come to a stop after rolling over a girl. Thinking it
had been an accident, he stepped in front of the truck. "I was waving to
the driver, 'Stop, there's a girl under the truck,'" he recalled.
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El Shafei said the driver then picked up a gun, and police
began to fire on him. Frozen in fear, El Shafei filmed the final assault in
which Bouhle was killed.
Then police, perhaps worried that the truck contained
explosives, shouted to everyone to run.
There were no explosives; the attack was over. Medics
arrived by ambulance and helicopter, wheeling away victims. Bodies were covered
with sheets.
Image: French police forces and forensic officers stand next
to a truck that ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday
on the Promenade des Anglais killing at least 60 people in Nice
French police forces and forensic officers stand next to a
truck July 15, 2016 that ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national
holiday on the Promenade des Anglais killing at least 60 people in Nice,
France, July 14. ERIC GAILLARD / Reuters
By dawn, a stunned silence hung over the promenade, the
crime scene still being examined, people still searching for lost loved ones
and friends. A national holiday, and Mediterranean resort, had been ruined by
terror.
"I
heard about it (Nice), that it's very peaceful, very nice place, so my friends
advised me to come, and they told me it's like a paradise," El Shafei
said. "So I wanted to see the paradise, but I saw something else."