2 Americans, Dozens More Dead After Truck Plows Into Crowd in Nice, France

NICE, France (WJZ/AP/CBSNews)-- Dozens are dead after a truck drove onto the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of Bastille Day revelers who'd gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice late Thursday.

Officials and eyewitnesses described it as a deliberate attack.

The driver, identified Friday as Mohamed Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Nice resident, was shot and killed by police.

French network BFM TV said the victims were pedestrians on the famed Promenade des Anglais along the Nice waterfront.

An Austin-area father and son who were vacationing in Europe with their family -- Sean Copeland, 51, and his son Brodie, 11 -- are among the deceased, relatives said Friday.

According to officials, 84 people have died. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said 202 were wounded, 52 are in critical condition and 25 of those critical patients are on life support.

Molins told reporters that Bouhlel shot at three police officers, but didn't provide details on their conditions.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports Bouhlel was known to police for petty crimes. A U.S. government source told CBS News that U.S. intelligence does not know definitively whether Bouhlel was directly affiliated with a terrorist organization. Molins told reporters that Bouhlel was not known to French intelligence services.

Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said the truck "hit several people on a long trip" down the sidewalk near Nice's Palais de la Méditerranee, a building which fronts the beach. Some estimates say the truck went over a mile through the crowd before being stopped.

Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, told BFM TV that the driver appeared to have "completely premeditated behavior." He added that "the truck was loaded with arms, loaded with grenades."

The Paris prosecutor's office said it had open a terrorism investigation into the crash.

Almost exactly eight months ago, ISIS militants killed 130 people in a series of attacks in Paris.

Prior to the attack, Hollande said Thursday that he planned to allow the state of emergency imposed after the November attacks to expire.

In his speech early Friday, Hollande said he now wants to extend the state of emergency by three months. That decision will need parliamentary approval.

Hollande said he will call a defense council meeting Friday that brings together defense, interior and other key ministers, before heading to Nice.

Besides ensuring continuation of the state of emergency and the Sentinel operation that puts 10,000 soldiers on patrol, he said he was calling up reserve to help police, particularly at French borders.

The White House released a statement from President Obama on Twitter, condemning "what appears to be a horrific terror attack."

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also condemned the attack and offered her thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.

"The Department of Justice has reached out to our French counterparts to offer our assistance in the investigation," Lynch said in a statement.

"I was proud to stand alongside French leaders earlier today at Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, and the United States will continue to stand firmly with the French people during this time of tragedy," Secretary of State John Kerry said while in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We will provide whatever support is needed.‎"

Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke to the Associated Press near Nice's Promenade du Paillon, said that he saw a truck drive into the crowd and then witnessed the man emerge with a gun and start shooting.

"There was carnage on the road," Bouhlel said. "Bodies everywhere."

Video posted on social media showed chaos as people ran from the crash scene.

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