WARNING: This post contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing, discretion advised.
Police have identified the man who carried out the truck attack in Nice that killed at least 84 people, including several children, and wounded more than 200, as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
Bouhlel, 31, was a French citizen who was born in Tunisia. Police raided his apartment in Nice Nord district early Friday morning. He reportedly lived alone.
READ MORE: Nice, France attack kills at least 84: ‘Carnage on the road. Bodies everywhere’
According to BFM TV, a French 24-hour news channel, he was a delivery truck driver with three children whose marriage may have broken down.
Nice-Matin, a French newspaper, reports that Bouhlel was known to police but does not appear to have been known to intelligence services and was not on a terror watchlist. Several of Bouhlel’s relatives and friends have been taken into police custody for questioning, according to the newspaper.
Several neighbours at the address of the apartment told the Associated Press that the man had not lived there in three years. The apartment was occupied by the man’s estranged wife, who was led away by authorities, three of the neighbours said.
Neighbours who spoke with local media described him as “aggressive” and a “loner.”
“He was rude and a bit weird,” one told BFM TV. “He kept to himself but would always rant about his wife. He had marital problems and would tell people in the local cafe. He scared my children.”
VIDEO GALLERY: Nice attack kills at least 84
-
![]()
Raw video shows moment police open fire on truck involved in Nice attack -
![]()
Police open fire at truck moments before it intentionally drove into Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France -
![]()
Body bags line Nice shoreline as officials investigate deadly truck attack -
![]()
Security expert explains why France is a terror target -
![]()
People running through the streets in Nice, France after apparent attack -
![]()
Edmonton women in Nice, France hours before attack -
![]()
Several people reportedly killed after truck drives into crowd in Nice, France on Bastille Day
The apartment showed visible signs of forced entry, including a hole where the lock had been, according to the AP.
Four young men inside the apartment told the Associated Press they were family of Bouhlel’s wife, who they said was divorcing her husband.
WATCH: Nice police detain woman following attack
Police say Bouhlel had drawn a gun on them during Thursday night’s attack. The truck’s front windshield was riddled with bullets, Bouhlel’s body slumped inside, according to Paris’ chief prosecutor Francois Molins.
Molins told a press conference that officers heroically risked their lives trying to stop the truck as it travelled two kilometres down the promenade.
Molins said Bouhlel’s estranged wife was arrested in Nice on Friday. He said Bouhlel was sentenced in March to six-months in prison for assault with a weapon. The sentence was suspended because it was his first conviction. The weapon used was a plank of wood against another driver after a traffic accident.
Witnesses said Bouhlel first crashed into crowds near the five-star Hotel Negresco, then rolled slowly down a road as police chased on foot.
Authorities say the attack appears to have been premeditated but there has no claim of responsibility from any group.
The deadly rampage in the southern French city rocked a nation still dealing with the aftermath of two attacks in Paris last year that killed 147 people and were claimed by the so-called Islamic State.
French President Francois Hollande said it was not clear whether the driver had accomplices and the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “murder and attempted murder in an organized group linked to a terrorist enterprise.”
“Terrorism is a threat that weighs heavily upon France and will continue to weigh for a long time,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after Hollande called an emergency government meeting Friday. “We are facing a war that terrorism has brought to us. The goal of terrorists is to instil fear and panic. And France is a great country, and a great democracy, that will not allow itself to be destabilized.”
READ MORE: Witnesses describe deadly attack in Nice: ‘Bodies flying like bowling pins’
Two Americans are among the dead, identified by relatives as 51-year-old Sean Copeland and his 11-year-old son, Brodie, of Lakeway, Texas.
Family friend Jess Davis released a statement Friday on behalf of the Copeland family, saying they are “heartbroken and in shock.”
Canada’s ambassador to France, Lawrence Cannon, said in a Tweet Thursday night that no Canadians had been reported among the casualties so far.
However, on Friday, MacEwan University in Edmonton said one of its students is missing. The school says it is very concerned about the missing student and is working with the Canadian government to determine his status.
— With files from the Associated Press
Comments