Officials in France say man who drove a truck through a Bastille Day crowd in Nice last night had a record of petty crime, but nothing that might indicate he would commit an act that has left at least 84 dead and hundreds injured.
For more on what happened last night in Nice, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke to Alison Bracker, who lives there.
She grew up here in Los Angeles and lived in England for many years before relocating to the south of France in April .
Her home is a five-minute walk from where the attack took place. Yesterday, she left the Bastille Day celebration just moments before the horror began.
I first thought, of course, there may have been an accident. The sirens kept building and then I realized I got a text message from a friend who lives just few doors up from the corner where the attack happened. [She] was asking if I was alright. And I said "Yes, why?" And then she told me exactly what had happend. She had heard the gun shots before they were officially confirmed. She recognized the sound and new immediately that they were not fireworks.
Cohen also spoke with Samuel Loy who grew up in France and spent many of his summers in Nice.
He currently lives here in LA where he is the Executive Director of the French-American Chamber of Commerce. He too was on his way to celebrate the French holiday before he heard the news.
I was in the office and I was actually on my way to join the Consul General France as well as all of their elected officials for a Bastille Day celebration. The first reaction is to call our loved ones, our family, our friends to make sure everybody's okay, but you don't know if everybody's okay until we get the full list of casualties which is a very stressing and awful prospect.
To hear the full audio click the blue player above.