TERROR ON BASTILLE DAY: 70 PEOPLE AND COUNTING DEAD AS TRUCK HITS CROWD IN NICE

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UPDATES AS OF 9:35 PM PT:  80 dead, 16 critical condition, one police officer dead.  Terrorist investigation HAS been opened. 

Updates:  French police now saying there are at least 70 dead.   

East County News Service

Photo courtesy Eric Gaillard, Reuters

July 14, 2016 (Nice, Fra.) - Today is Bastille Day, the French Fourth of July.  But the celebration was cut short tonight in the city of Nice, a popular tourist destination in France, as a truck accelerated into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 70 and injuring at least 100 people and French authorities say the death toll is rising.  The incident IS being treated as a terrorist attack. 

The driver was driving a tractor trailer lorry.  Authorities say he sped up and mowed people down on the Nice promenade.  

It is still unclear whether this is a terrorist attack or if the driver, who was the only person in the truck, had any terrorist affiliations, but a witness stated that it was "clear that the driver was doing it deliberately" and Subprefect Sebastien Humbert of the Alpes-Maritimes region has called the incident a "major criminal attack."  Authorities are also trying to determine if the driver had any accomplices. 

Authorities say the man was firing on the crowd as he drove and that the truck was loaded with arms and grenades.

There was no hostage situation at any point and the driver was eventually shot dead by police, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for French Interior Ministry.

ECM will update this story as we get more information.

President Barack Obama has been informed of the situation and is being updated by his security team.  French president Francois Hollande is headed to Paris from Avignon for emergency talks with the Interior Ministry.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was quick to tweet his thoughts (below).

He has also delayed announcing Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate, which he had planned to do tomorrow.




 


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