Nice prosecutor's office: At least 73 dead in truck attack on Bastille Day crowd in France
Nice prosecutor's office: At least 73 dead in truck attack on Bastille Day crowd in France
NICE , France — A long white truck ran into a crowd of people in Nice , France, on Bastille Day, killing "probably" 30 people and injuring 1…
NICE, France -- A long white truck ran into a crowd of people in Nice, France, on Bastille Day, killing 73 people and injuring 100 more, a local prefecture official told CNN.
At least 73 people were killed, according to French media, citing the Nice prosecutor's office.
Preliminary information from French officials is that there was one individual in the truck that hit a crowd in Nice, according to a U.S. law enforcement official briefed on the attack. The man was killed by police and it does not appear there was any gunfire from the truck, according to the official.
The investigation is still in the early stage.
One witness, an American who was about 15 feet from the truck, said the driver pointed his tractor trailer into the crowd, mowing bodies over.
Here are the latest developments in the tragedy:
• Maryam Violet, a witness, said she was walking along the beach and saw "a ton of people on the ground and on the sidewalk." "You could see someone with a bike or a wheelchair and someone with a bag full of flowers, innocent and normal people on the beach."
• French President Francois Hollande is returning to Paris from Avignon for emergency talks at the Interior Ministry after the mass casualty incident in Nice, according to French national radio.
• Facebook has activated the Safety Check feature for people in and around the area of the attack.
• An American witness at the scene said the driver of the truck was mowing bodies over, and that he appeared to accelerate as he hit those bodies. The witness said he saw only the driver. He heard gunfire as he ran away, but did not know its source. It seemed like an accident at first, but it became apparent very quickly that it was deliberate, the witness told CNN.
• BFM posted an image of the truck that reportedly was involved in the incident. The photo shows what appears to be bullet holes in the windshield of the white truck.
• Christian Estrosi, the head of the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, said late Thursday: "Dear Nice residents, the driver of a truck appears to have caused tens of deaths. Stay for the moment in your homes. More info to come."
• Eric Dartell was eating at a restaurant on the street where the incident happened. "You can see wreckage all along the way, a body, bicycles, street lamps and debris everywhere," he said.
Nice, France
How a long white truck(tractor trailer) got onto a "promenade" packed with thousands of people in a country that has been racked with terrorist attacks is a painful question. The area should have been barricaded to traffic.
It was barricaded...hence the need for a really big truck. A bomb in a baby stroller wouldn't have had the same effect, now would it?
Are you telling me that the French army cannot keep one truck out of a given relatively small area?
The government can't stop this type of attack.
Of course they could. You expand the perimeter. How many roads led to the promenade? It's close to the ocean, so there can't be that many.
Of course they could. You expand the perimeter. How many roads led to the promenade? It's close to the ocean, so there can't be that many.
Perhaps you should give the French a shout and offer your advice. I'm certain they would acquiesce to your expertise, and then, out of grateful acknowledgement, proclaim that Bastille Day will henceforth be celebrated as Bastille/John Russell Day.
Good grief, John. This truck didn't need an established road to have up close and personal access to the Bastille Day celebrants. A truck that size can make its own road.
If you can't keep a large truck full of explosives from entering an area with tens of thousands of people packed like sardines , you probably should cancel the event.
If a truck like this wanted to plow through the sidewalks around the Super Bowl , do you think they would be able to do it?
Ridiculous. You are the one that dismisses terrorism as a threat but you expect any gathering of 100 people or so to be surrounded by vehicle barriers? So, no sports events, no plays, no shopping districts? Bullshit.
you expect any gathering of 100 people or so to be surrounded by vehicle barriers? So, no sports events, no plays, no shopping districts?
At that point, the terrorists just won the war.
A witness on the BBC said there were thousands of people gathered there to celebrate what is, in effect, their 4th of July. They were large numbers gathered after having just witnessed a fireworks show.
Will Shore, an eyewitness who was in a bar in Nice, said he heard gunfire and then saw "hundreds, if not thousands" of people running away from the incident.
He said it was "a mass" of people running away and there was "panic everywhere".
there were tens of thousands of people at this event, at least, not hundreds
Sounds about right considering the event.
So what? He killed about 70. BarricadING any collection of 70 people is impossible. Ridiculous.
Alex Jones Infowars is going to be live stream reporting on the attack starting at 7pm central time.
That's too bad.
My friend is living there and I spoke to her via Skype about 8:30 pm Nice time. She said she was staying in because she was out late last night. I sure hope she did.
Yes.
Without even waiting for the investigation we can be nearly certain this was an Islamist driving the truck .
Yep. The religion of peace strikes again.
It was. A Tunisian.
If it was a Tunisian, he would probably have been an Islamist terrorist, then the French and the Brits and the Germans and Obama will whitewash it to announce that some folks were killed by some other folk. It would be contrary to their modus operandi to identify the perpetrator's religion.
It was folksy terrorism ...
No doubt his shouting of "Allah Akbar" before he was shot is irrelevant to determining a motive. It's such a perplexing mystery why these random folks keeps committing acts of mass murder.
We don't know the motive. But its obviously one of these four:
1. Workplace accident
2. A jilted lover
3. A disgruntled employee
4. A act of workplace violence
John, I'll answer your question. I watched a video taken by a German tourist from a balcony. Now, before I get to it, let me set a scene.
Here in my town, we have a three day celebration in the town square for 4th of July. 4 roads form the square. For this celebration there are police barricades set up one block out on all 4 roads. Simple saw horses with flashing lights. They don't put up cement blocks, because delivery trucks with food and drinks need access through out the celebration. Also, it would hamper rescue vehicles if it was blocked with cement barricades.
It appears from the video that that's what they had on the road here, simple barricades to allow for access if needed. You can clearly see Police officers running after the truck as it drives down the road, until it gets to a point where the driver speeds up. From there, the video is hidden.
So from this video, I would assume that they had police barricades up, and this guy just ran through them.
I don't think the security in Nice was sufficient. A terrorism expert named Malcolm Nance on NBC News said the truck was stopped at a checkpoint , and then was allowed to continue when the driver replied he was delivering ice cream. The next obstacle were pedestrian barriers that the truck just blew right through.
One of the other commentators says that the attack could have been prevented by placing a large truck perpendicular across the street that the attacking truck came down, and using that location as a barrier. That sounds like something that would have worked. It is hindsight today, but presumably countries have people thinking of these eventualities on a daily basis.
If in fact the "delivering ice cream" story were true, then the intelligence of the inquiring guard is at fault. He should have known immediately that a refrigerating truck (obvious from the machinery on the roof of such a truck) would have been a necessity, so that an inspection was called for. In fact ANY truck going into the area should have been inspected - the reason there is not enough suspicion in the minds of those people is because of the governments' denial, whitewashing and censorship of the reality of what is happening in Europe. That problem should be clear to you, John.