Source: Suspect in Nice truck attack French national of Tunisian descent

The bullet-ridden truck that ran into a crowd of people in Nice.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 15 July 2016

A police source told several French media outlets that identification papers found in the truck used to plow into a crowd of people Thursday night in Nice, killing 84, belong to a French-Tunisian man.

NBC News was also told by a French official that the suspect was a French national of Tunisian descent. French media reports that the man was 31 and a resident of Nice, and television station BFM says he was known to police because of common crimes like theft, not terrorism. French President Francois Hollande confirmed that the suspect was shot and killed by police, and investigators are looking into whether he had any accomplices or ties to a terrorist group.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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