At least 84 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded Thursday night in Nice, France, when a truck driven by a Tunisian-born male crashed into a crowd that had gathered to celebrate Bastille Day.
Speaking at a news conference Friday night, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said 202 people were wounded in the attack. He added that 25 are on life support, and 52 more were in critical condition. He said ten children were killed.
Molins confirmed that 31-year-old Tunisian-born delivery driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was the driver of the truck used in the attack. Early media reports had said he was the suspect, and authorities said he had French residency papers.
At around 10:30 p.m. local time Thursday, Bouhlel drove a 19-ton truck at high speed onto the Promenade des Anglais, where the celebration was being held. Hundreds of residents and tourists were seen running from the scene of the incident.
Molins said the truck was carrying automatic weapons, two Kalashnikov rifles, bullets and a grenade. A mobile phone, a driver’s license and bank details were also recovered, Molins revealed.
At around 2 a.m. Friday, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it was opening a terrorism investigation into the incident. No terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
More than 3,000 law enforcement officers had been scheduled to work the Bastille Day parade and surrounding areas due to a continued high threat of terrorist attacks after more than 130 people died in November in multiple bombings and mass shootings in Paris. Bastille Day is the French equivalent to the United States’ Independence Day.
French President Francois Hollande arrived in Nice Friday. Speaking after visiting a local hospital, Hollande said the attack was done “to satisfy the cruelty of an individual, maybe a group,” and called on his country to maintain its “unity and cohesion” following the tragedy.
“We are dealing with a struggle that will take a long time, because we have an enemy who will continue to strike all peoples, all countries that have freedom as a fundamental value,” he said.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced three days of national mourning, starting Saturday.
“We will not give in to terrorist threats,” Valls said. “We are in a new era. France has been struck once again in her flesh. They wanted to harm the very idea of national unity.”
Hollande called for a three-month extension of a state of emergency, put in place after last November’s deadly Paris attacks, that was set to expire later this month. An additional 7,000 French troops will be mobilized to add security to critical sites around the country.
The State Department said early Friday morning that two Americans were killed in the attack. They have been identified as a father and son: Sean Copeland, 51, and his son Brodie Copeland, 11, from Lakeway, Texas. They were in Nice during a family vacation, and there is no word on the status of the other family members who were reportedly on the trip as well.
President Obama issued a statement late Thursday responding to what he called a “horrific terrorist attack.”
“On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians,” he said.
“We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack,” Obama added. “On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the character of the French Republic will endure long after this devastating and tragic loss of life.”
