What We Know About The Nice, France, Attack Suspect
By Merrit KennedyWhat We Know About The Nice, France, Attack Suspect
By Merrit KennedyLaw enforcement officials have identified 31-year-old Mohamed Bouhlel as the suspect who they believe plowed into a crowd in Nice, France and killed at least 84 people.
French and American law enforcement officials tell NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston the suspect’s name and age and say that they have not yet found any direct connections between the suspect and terrorist groups.
There is still very little confirmed information about the suspect. Several local media reports identify the suspect as “Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel.” As we reported, local media citing law enforcement officials say an ID found in the truck carried the name Lahouaiej-Bouhlel.
Officials tell Dina that Bouhlel was born in Tunisia and is now a French citizen. He also holds Tunisian citizenship, spokespeople from Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs tell NPR’s Leila Fadel.
According to the Tunisian officials, Bouhlel was last in Tunisia four years ago. He hails from the town of Msaken – ten miles from Sousse, where an ISIS-claimed attack killed 39 people at a beach resort last year.
As we reported, an attacker drove a truck into the crowd celebrating Bastille Day for more than a mile along the French Riviera promenade. It ended when police shot and killed the driver. Officials tell Dina the suspect rented the truck. You can read more about the deadly attack here.
According to France’s BFMTV, he was “known to police for armed assault, domestic violence, threats and theft,” but with no known links to terrorism. The broadcaster says he lived in Nice and was married with three children.
This is a breaking news story. As often happens in situations like these, some information reported early may turn out to be inaccurate. We’ll move quickly to correct the record and we’ll only point to the best information we have at the time.
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