Bastille Day Killer Bouhlel Had Criminal Past
Mohamed Bouhlel was "totally unknown" to the intelligence services and had "never been subject to any sign of radicalisation".
Friday 15 July 2016 22:14, UK
The man who drove a lorry into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice has been named as 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the French-Tunisian national had a history of petty crimes prior to Thursday's attack, which killed at least 84 people.
He was known for domestic violence, threats and theft.
Bouhlel had also been given a six-month suspended jail sentence in March for a road rage incident in January.
French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas described the road rage incident as "an altercation between him and another driver" adding that he had "hurled a wooden pallet at the man".
But Mr Molins said he was "totally unknown" to the French intelligence services and had "never been subject to any sign of radicalisation".
Bouhlel was born in Tunisia and lived in Nice, where he worked as a delivery driver.
He had held a French residence permit for 10 years but had not gained French nationality, according to Tunisian sources.
On Friday, police raided a 12th floor apartment occupied by his estranged wife, who was led away by the authorities.
Neighbours said Bouhlel had not lived there for three years.
Tunisian security sources say Bouhlel, who had three children, came from the town of Msaken, six miles from the city of Sousse.
Thirty-eight people, including 30 Britons, were killed when terrorist Seifiddine Rezgui opened fire on sunbathers at the beach resort last June.
Photographs from the scene in Nice show the windscreen of the vehicle Bouhlel was driving riddled with gunshots.
The attacker fired a pistol several times into the crowd after the truck was brought to a halt, according to the regional president.
"At the moment that he was shot dead by police, he had fired several times," Christian Estrosi said.
He later said Bouhlel had been picked up on CCTV cameras getting into the truck "in the hills of Nice".
Mr Estrosi added that authorities were looking for any accomplices.
"Attacks aren't prepared alone. Attacks are prepared with accomplices," he said.
"There is a chain of complicity. I expect it to be unveiled, discovered and kept up to date."
Mr Molins said that, while no group had claimed responsibility for the attack, the attack was "exactly in line with the constant calls to kill" from jihadi groups.
Earlier, authorities said they had found "grenades and larger weapons" in the truck, which had picked up speed and travelled along the famous Promenade des Anglais for more than a mile.
However, Mr Molins said later they had found one pistol and a number of fake weapons.