Nice terrorist reportedly had criminal record but was not known to be radicalized

The driver of a truck that mowed through a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, killing 84 people, was a 31-year-old French-Tunisian with a criminal record, and was well-known to police, local French media reports. Police told Nice-Matin that ID papers and a phone found in the truck suggest the man was named Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.

Bouhlel worked as a delivery driver in Nice, and was well-known to police due to a history of petty crime. He was found guilty of "violent contact" in March. However, he was not known to be radicalized, and did not have an anti-terrorism file, The Independent reports. Still, the attack appeared premeditated — Bouhlel rented the truck used in the Thursday attacks on Wednesday, a local paper citing a police source said.

Bouhlel was born in Tunisia and lived in Nice as a French passport holder, and was a father of a 3-year-old, according to reports. "An operation is currently underway at the dead suspect's home in Nice. It is being raided by officers," The Telegraph reports an investigating source as saying.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"He lived alone. He said very little to anyone and wasn't very polite. He wouldn't hold the door open for you," one of Bouhlel's neighbors told The Telegraph. She described him as seeming "very weird."

The driver died in the truck in a shoot-out with police, ending his massacre.