Scores Reported Dead in Nice, France, as Truck Plows Into Bastille Day Crowd

A truck drove into a crowd during Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France, sending hundreds running for safety.

PARIS — A Bastille Day fireworks celebration was shattered by death and mayhem Thursday night in France’s southern city of Nice when a large truck barreled through an enormous crowd of spectators, crushing and maiming dozens — eight months after the Paris attacks that traumatized the nation and all of Europe.

Officials and witnesses in Nice said at least 77 people were killed by the driver of the rampaging truck, who was shot to death by the police as officers scrambled to respond on what is France’s most important annual holiday. Graphic television and video images showed the truck accelerating and tearing through the crowd, and the bullet-riddled windshield of the vehicle, which the mayor described as full of weapons and grenades.

Officials did not immediately classify the Nice killings as terrorism, but members of the Paris Prosecutor’s antiterrorism office quickly took over the investigation of what happened, and they warned residents to stay indoors. Read More (...)