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84 Dead in Attack in Nice, France; Hollande: Cannot Deny It Was a Terrorist Attack; Witness Describes Running for Life in Nice. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 15, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:41] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And it's just gone on 11:00 here in the West. I am John Vause, in Los Angeles.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay.

We're following breaking news out of Nice, France, where authorities say at least 84 people are dead, 18 critically wounded in another terror attack.

VAUSE: Thousands gathered along the beach to celebrate Bastille Day, a national holiday, when the driver of a large white truck opened fire on the crowd and plowed into them. You can hear the guns shots in this amateur video.

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SESAY: Witnesses say the man drove for about with two kilometers, more than a mile, along the Promenade des Anglais running people down before he was shot and killed by police.

VAUSE: A law enforcement source tells the AFP France press they found several fake rifles as well as an inactive grenade inside that truck. They also found the identity card of a 31-year-old French Tunisian man. They're now trying to figure out if that belongs to the driver.

SESAY: French President Francois Hollande says France is under threat from terrorism and the attack in Nice is a terrorist incident that cannot be ignored.

VAUSE: The president plans to ask for a state of emergency to be extended to three months. It was set to expire July 26th.

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FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): France has been struck on the day of her national holiday, the 14th of July, Bastille Day, the symbol of liberty. Because human rights are denied by fanatics and France is quite clearly their target. And I express on behalf of the nation that we show our solidarity towards the victims and their families. All means are being deployed to help the wounded. The plan is ensuring helping all the wounded. After Paris, in January 2015. Then in November last year with certainty. Nice is, in turn, touched. France as a whole is under threat of Islamic terrorism.

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VAUSE: Live now to Becky Anderson in Paris where it is going on, what, three minutes past 8:00 on a Friday morning.

Becky, so many people there in France will be waking up to the news of a third major terrorist attack in that cousin the in just 18 months.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't supposed to be like this, was it? Yesterday, a day of celebration here in Nice and across the country. And then a night of utter carnage in that southern beach town resort.

John, about an hour from now, we are expecting to see Francois Hollande lead a security and defense council meeting here in Paris. He will then travel with the prime minister down to Nice to offer their comfort and support for those who have been touched by this dreadful, dreadful attack.

We do hear that the Nice hospitals once again appealing for blood donations. There are reports the hospitals have said that they will take those from 9:30.

Francois Hollande originally spoke to the nation about five hours after this all happened, all unfolded.

It was 10:00 at night in Nice when those thousands were gathered to watch the fireworks when this white truck drove down, a route that is supposed to be cordoned off, we're told, mowing people down, the driver, shooting people, spraying them with bullets out of the windows before he was shot and killed by authorities.

At this point, the investigation will be run by the anti-terror unit here. We await more from this security and defense council meeting and from the president of what is the fifth republic here. As I say, celebrating Bastille Day just 24 hours ago. And those who were waking up this morning, as we went back to bed, would not believe what they see and hear this morning -- John?

[02:05:] VAUSE: Becky, thank you so much. We'll check back with you later.

Becky, thank you.

SESAY: Thanks, Becky.

We have some video from social media that illustrates the horror of this attack. It is graphic. We have edited it so we can show it to you.

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VAUSE: Another disturbing video posted to social media shows the truck moments before it plowed into the crowd.

SESAY: You can see the white truck driving down the Promenade des Anglais, the main street in Nice. Deliberately moving through. People crowded on that famous beach to watch a fireworks show celebrating Bastille Day, a national holiday in France.

VAUSE: American Paul DeLane was caught up in the attack. Earlier, he shared with us what he experienced as he ran for his life.

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PAUL DELANE, WITNESS (voice-over): The people that I was around where I was standing, we couldn't hear gunshots. We heard the music that was playing far too loud. It kind of covered it. So it made people a little bit confused, as well been but then we all just -- everybody just automatically started to run because when you see masses of people running like that, you -- that gives a natural reaction was to just run with them.

But, no, I did not see any bodies on the ground. I did not see even after the truck. There's a lot of palm trees on the Promenade des Anglais. If you're near the ocean, your view is blocked. There was thousands, all of these people are running. I was looking in the way I was running actually try to get away just --

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SESAY: Where did you run to, Paul? Where did you end up? Yeah

DELANE: Well, I ran all the way home to the train station. But I ran in the direction of the main streets called (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). That's where everyone was running to. That's the direction everyone was going to. In any case, there wasn't really much of a choice to run to, actually. You could continue along the promenade to the sea front or you could go to near to the left where it to another place called (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). And there is where you have one of the main streets of Nice where you can go all the way up to the train, walkway up to the train station. And that's what we did. We just walked. Then there were waves of panic. We would stop running and we would wall and, all of a sudden, there would be screaming and people would start running so we would run again with them. Eventually, we found ourselves in front of our apartment and just went inside and turned on the news. Tried to relax and digest everything that we had just experienced.

VAUSE: Paul, there are some reports that dozens of people simply jumped into the sea to get away from the gunfire, from the truck. Do you think anything about that? Did you see that?

DELANE: Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. There were people running in all directions. There were people running and trying into hotels. There were people into tunnels, a parking area. People were running for cover. Like I said, I don't think even most of the people didn't even see what was happening, but they knew that something was happening and they had to run and they had to hide. So it doesn't surprise me when you said people were jumping into the sea. I didn't see that. But, it's possible because it was one of the largest crowds I've seen and I've ever been in the middle of. So it was pure panic. It was just find a space and cover yourself. And parents, that was the worst thing was watching couples and parents running with their children. And the terror just -- their fear. I felt their fear. I was scared for people as well as for myself. I can't understand how people can -- how people can behave like this. And why there's so much hate in the world.

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[02:10:45] SESAY: It is a question people around the world are asking.

VAUSE: I can't possibly imagine what so much people have gone through.

Joining us now, security expert, Aaron Cohen. He was with the Israeli Special Forces Counterterrorism Unit; also CNN law enforcement contributor, former FBI special agent, Steve Moore.

Steve, first to you. They're looking at that truck. It's riddle with holes. They're now saying maybe there was an active grenade, maybe fake rifles inside. They found the I.D. card. What else are they going to get to that truck? That seems to be the main clue here.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, they'll run fingerprints on the body of the shooter, determine his identity, I would suspect fairly quickly. And then they're going to compare it to any known terror cells they have. That would give them an idea early to say this person was connected to an ISIS unit or this person was sympathetic to al Qaeda. It would give you a link to where they are, to where the investigation is going to go.

SESAY: Aaron, obviously, we have these reports about the fake weaponry in the vehicle. But we're also hearing he had a firearm that worked and he shot into the crowd. Talk to us about tracing that and trying to build a picture of whether there was a network working with him.

AARON COHEN, FORMER ISRAELI SPECIAL FORCES COUNTERTERRORISM UNIT: Very similar to what my friend, the former FBI agent, just said. There's a mosaic that starts to be painted based on the ballistics of the ammunition, the shell casings. They'll look at those, the rifling. There's a -- most modern weapons have a spiral inside the barrel, which would give them some type of ballistic fingerprint that will start to give source trade to purchases or sales. I'm not sure where the weapons are coming from. That's going to be the interesting thing. That will help them start to pull those outside pieces in closer. And then, again, I think a big piece of this will be looking at the electronic data. That will give the best picture, the Internet. Cell phones are the greatest piece of living intelligence, moving organic piece of information you can get your hands on. We love cell phones in Israel. The reason why is they tell us who moves there, how they move, how long they stay there. So all those footprints with the ballistics. And you can get into some more obviously with the federal background. For us, it's -- you know, the question would be what pieces can we find to potentially stop another attack that could daisy chain, which is what we call it in Israel.

VAUSE: Steve, that's the question. This seemed simple, didn't require a lot of planning. A guy and a truck and a gun. Clearly, the concern is copycats.

MOORE: right.

VAUSE: Highly effective.

MOORE: As Aaron pointed out, this is now a proven concept that is exported. You can get a truck in the United States, even if you can't get a gun.

VAUSE: You can get on in Britain anyway.

MOORE: Yeah, they're everywhere, I hear.

VAUSE: Yeah.

MOORE: So that's one of the main issues. The other thing -- and I want to dovetail off what Aaron said. What I would want to know about this driver is when the last time he was on his phone cell was. I wouldn't put it past him to be on his cell phone 20, 30 seconds beforehand talking to somebody --

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VAUSE: Well, there was a witness that said he was on the phone --

MOORE: Then he was probably talking to something down the promenade saying this is the time to hit. This is the time to go. Obviously, you couldn't do a lot of casing in that truck. Most likely, he was communicating with somebody doing scouting work. And I'll bet you, if ISIS takes credit for this, you'll see a video shot by their person.

SESAY: But, Aaron, to that point, no claim of responsibility to date. Does that surprise you?

COHEN: No. The reason why there's no claim right now is that data network has to go up in order for people to make that claim. That tweet goes out, the Facebook post goes out, the Instagram post goes out, taking responsibility. That is immediately going to create an additional electronic footprint. Social media, whether they like it or not, no friends of the NSA, they'll go to Zuckerberg right now and say we have to trace this account, this account. So that was an excellent point about the -- specifically regarding talking to essentially what we would call in a Special Operations community, a combat controller, a forward-operating position. Being on the phone, it covers the driver's face, allows him to look like he's doing something, which lowers his visibility so he can drive casually. Look at the footage. He's driving very casually. And then he can act as a laser designator. It's not low tech. It's extremely sophisticated because you can carry out an attack, kill almost 100 people, wounding another 100 people with so little sophistication. And we don't have anything in Israel or with the American Special Operations community that can change flight the way a suicide bomber can or someone just running into a crowd of people to find a better target and that's what makes this so dangerous. So that investigation, what these guys do, everything, at this point, is to stop future attacks on the operational level. It's very important.

[02:16:12]SESAY: Aaron Cohen, Steve Moore --

VAUSE: Thanks, guys.

SESAY: -- Thank you.

U.S. President Barack Obama reacting to the attacks saying, "On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terror attack in Nice, France."

VAUSE: He goes on to say, "On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world. And we know the character of the French Republic will endure long after the devastating and tragic loss of life."

SESAY: The attack has drawn comments from the major U.S. presidential candidates. Donald Trump spoke to FOX News. This, after he postponed formally announcing his vice presidential pick due to the attack. His rival, Hillary Clinton, spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Both indicated the attack was an act of war.

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BILL O'REILLY, FOX HOST, O'REILLY FACTOR: Would you go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war?

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I would. I would. This is war. If you look at it, this is war, coming from all different parts.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: It's clear we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. It's a different kind of war. And we need to be smart about how we wage it and win it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Other world leaders are weighing in. Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, tweeted, "Canadians are shocked by tonight's attack in Nice. Our sympathy is with the victims and our solidarity is with the French people."

SESAY: And Boris Johnson, the new British foreign minister, posted this, "Shocked and saddened by the appalling events in Nice and the terrible loss of life."

VAUSE: A short break, but we're continuing with our ongoing coverage of the terror attack in Nice in just a moment.

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[02:21:53] SESAY: Welcome back, everybody. We're following devastating new out of southern France. A terror attack in France on Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. The French interior minister tells AFP that 84 people have been killed. A truck driver plowed through a crowd gathered for fireworks on the French national holiday.

VAUSE: Police shot and killed the driver. Authorities say they found firearms, explosive and grenades inside that truck. But press is citing law enforcement sources who say some of those items were fake. Officials also found an identity card of a 31-year-old French- Tunisian. Authorities are trying to determine if that matches the identity of the driver.

SESAY: Let's bring in Regis le Sommier, who joins us from Paris. He's the deputy editor-in-chief of the French news magazine, "Paris Match".

Reggie, thank you so much for joining us.

What are you hearing about efforts to identify the driver?

REGIS LE SOMMIER, DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PARIS MATCH (voice-over): Well, they're still ongoing. We don't have the name. We know he was born in 1985. So he's a 31-year-old. We don't know what -- what is important also is we don't know whether he was born in Nice or in France or in Tunisia, which, you know, could indicate, you know, maybe -- a proper -- a more in-depth profile of who he was. We also know that -- and that's something that needs to be noticed, is that there's a number of Tunisian nationals in -- within the Islamic State. It's a large number. They've been noted before, the Tunisian -- is one of the core fighters of the Islamic State. Was he part of those fighters once in his life? What we know is that none of the terror-related affairs were linked to him. He was known for petty crime. Known by justice, but not any terror-related matters. So that's -- but it's still very early and we still won't have the proper identity of that person.

VAUSE: The president, Francois Hollande, wants to extend emergency powers. He wants the state of emergency to be extended for another three months. What will that allow authorities to do?

LE SOMMIER: Well, I mean, the irony is that the state of emergency was about to be lifted and, of course, you know, following this event, Francois Hollande took the reverse track of -- for the next three months. It's not anything new. The police would be able to patrol and the army would be patrolling, as they did January 7th with the "Charlie Hebdo" terror attacks.

What's new is that some of the people that served in the military for the past five years and that retired will be able to go back. They will be able to be mobilized and help surveillance and help because it's this constant state of emergency for over a year has put the strain on the army, on the law enforcement. And so they need new people that can, you know, rotate, actually. And so Francois Hollande has asked, you know, so that people that are retired from the army, retired from law enforcement, that could -- you know, within the last five years, that could be brought back and used, you happen, for surveillance or any kind of purpose. So this is -- this is really new.

[02:25:43] We don't know whether -- I mean, up to now, we tend to believe that a lot of things have been done, especially in the light of the November 13th attacks. And, of course, they are linked to the March 20th attack, 22nd, in Brussels in terms of information sharing, especially between Belgium and the French, especially, you know, all the major intelligence service are now cooperating in time and -- not that they weren't before, but, you know, on specific individual and right now what I know from my sources within the French Intel, they're trying to locate and we've got -- you know, who was the planner of the attack in the West.

There are rumors that this guy is a French citizen, that he's now very high in the hierarchy of ISIS and goes with the name of Abu Suleiman (ph). There's still doubts of who he is really. But we know there's a guy operating out there and it's probably the one, not maybe triggering what happened yesterday, because we don't know whether that guy was isolated. But, you know, these guys, it turns out, it's just like Orlando or Manuel Vieoday (ph). They're called lone wolfs, but it turns out they were linked one way or the other to something. And that's where the investigation leads to that when we discover they are part of something. And lone wolfs don't exist, actually.

VAUSE: OK. Regis, we'll have to leave it there. But thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

SESAY: Yeah, Regis, thank you.

VAUSE: We'll see what will happen, I guess, in the coming days and weeks there in France.

SESAY: Yeah. Regis Le Sommier, thank you so much for your time.

VAUSE: Our breaking news coverage of the Nice terror attack continues after a short break. We'll talk to some terrorism experts and find out why the finger is now being pointed at ISIS.

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[02:3041:] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just got 11:30 here on Thursday night. You're watching CNN's continuing breaking news coverage of the terror attack in Nice. I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Isha Sesay, live from Los Angeles.

French media are reporting at least 84 people are dead after a large truck plowed into a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France.

VAUSE: There are reports the driver fired into the crowd before running them down. The revelers had been watching a fireworks display.

SESAY: Police say they found firearms and explosives in the truck after killing the driver. They found an I.D. card of a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man and are checking to see if it matches the driver.

VAUSE: The French president, Francois Hollande, is convening his security and defense council within in the next half hour. He's already said France's state of emergency will be extended for three months.

Mr. Hollande says there is no way to deny this was, in fact, terrorism.

SESAY: In a national TV address, he said Bastille Day is a symbol of liberty, something terrorists hate.

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FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): France is afflicted by this new tragedy. It is horrified -- she is horrified by with what has taken place, just taken place, this monstrosity of using a lorry to kill, deliberately kill dozens of people who just come to celebrate the 14th of July. France is afflicted, but she is strong, and she will always be stronger, I assure you, will always be stronger than the fanatics who want to strike her today.

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SESAY: Our Becky Anderson joins us from Paris.

Becky, good to have you with us.

What are the expectations for the security and defense council meeting that the French president will start shortly?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very unclear at this point. You've talked about the state of emergency being extended now. It was supposed to be ending in a week or so's time. That will now be extended, it seems, until October. And there has been no claim of responsibility in this attack. So the discussions will be about what happened and how to prevent this, one assumes, from ever happening again. With no claim of responsibility. But ISIS in the past urging their followers to carry out this sort of act. Many things, of course, pointing in their direction this morning.

And it is morning here in Paris and in Nice. It is 8:30 in the morning. In 30 minutes' time, that meeting will be led by the president. He will then accompany the prime minister down to Nice where hospitals are appealing for blood. This is a terrible, terrible attack, which has left men, women and children, kids, dead. 18 people at least still in the ICU departments.

We've heard witness accounts of this white truck simply mowing people down in the street. He traveled at something like 20 to 25 temperatures. This, from authorities in the initial stages. Most of it is from witness accounts. Going very slowly, with a driver showering people around him with bullets. These were people. They were out to celebrate Bastille Day and watch the fireworks on the beach in Nice. And the fallout this morning in Nice can only be imagined. We've been seeing videos of the aftermath. It is absolutely dreadful.

VAUSE: And, Becky, a lot of pressure now on the French President Francois Hollande. But he has some limited options here. He's extended the emergency powers, he's talking about striking can ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But really what are the options here in terms of security for France?

[02:34:55] ANDERSON: He put 500 extra police personnel on the streets in Nice. In the Champs-Elysees yesterday -- seems so long ago now. But yesterday, at this time, we were watching the parade, the Bastille parade, go on. And we were told then there 3500 troops and security and police on the streets to secure that parade. A week ago -- not even a weak ago, it was the final of the Euro 2016 tournament, a tournament that people have talked about bringing the country together and providing a unifying force. Again, at the fan zone there, there were more than 3500 security and police detail.

These emergency powers give him the opportunity to employ at will where he deems things necessary. And, of course, it gives the security and police powers to stop and search, a sort of thing they wouldn't be allowed to do, under these emergency powers.

But you're absolutely right. One would wish one was a fly on the wall at this meeting. I'm sure we'll find out in the coming hours exactly was said and decided there. But you make a very good point. What more can be done to secure this country? It is an unanswered question at the moment -- John?

VAUSE: Becky, thank you. Becky Anderson keeping us up to date with the very latest from Paris, as she's done for the past hour. Becky, thank you.

SESAY: Thank you, Becky.

VAUSE: Many are speculating ISIS or maybe another terror group was behind the Nice terror attack. This comes after a senior ISIS leader called on followers to use vehicles as weapons against Western targets.

SESAY: Back in 2014, a group spokesperson said this, "If you are not able to find an IED or bullet, single out the disbelieving and smash his head with a rock or slaughter him with a knife or run him over with your car or throw him down from a high place or choke him or poison him."

VAUSE: Joining us now, security expert, Aaron Cohen, who was with the Israeli Special Forces Counterterrorism Unit; also CNN law enforcement contributor, former FBI special agent, Steve Moore.

Steve, first to you.

You're talking about a lot about the fact this is a simple attack, you and get a truck. So from this point on, these big, large gatherings, a protest, a fireworks display, a concern, whatever, things will be different, everything will change from this point on.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: It has to, because now we've learned and they've learned another technique. And so it's not going to be enough just to be people at the perimeters of these large events. What you're going to have are barriers, barriers to stop something that large. And is that's not going to be easy. Usually, what you can do is take a bus or a dump truck full of dirt or ocean- going containers and you can flop them down. But this is going to change, once again, the paradigm of how we protect events.

SESAY: Aaron, three attacks in 18 months in France. All eyes now on intelligence once again. And people are asking, something has to change. Let me ask you, what has to change?

AARON COHEN, FORMER ISRAELI SPECIAL FORCES COUNTERTERRORISM UNIT: Defense needs to be bolstered. There's 500 police officers who have just been put on the street. That's great. I'm going to go back to the Israeli triple "D" system, deter, detect, deny. Those are a triple, multi-layer combination of security elements you can see and not see. The things you can see, the armed presence that's already out there. Things you can't see, the undercover elements that should have been in that crowd, the training which you can't see until it's reactive and doing the right thing.

Here is another tactic that he feel like is missing in the macro picture in terror and missing in France. Quite frankly, I think it's missing here in United States. Aggression is a tactic. It's a real, living, breathing tactic. And when it's on the books and when it's been approved and then broken down into enough pieces to be able to allow those law enforcement agencies to be as aggressive as needed, then that becomes a natural entity that can be quantified in terms of your ability to reduce overall risks.

SESAY: But that speaks to a coordination among the agencies. And the question is, is that lacking in France?

COHEN: There's no question. I think it's better now than it's ever been. But the coordination typically, amongst units that deal in terrorism -- there's a lot of egos in our business. There's no question about it. Everybody wants to protect their assets. Everybody wants to protect their -- I'm trying to think of the word -- their territory as well as well as their moles who provide them with information. Terrorism is a dark and dirty world that involves a lot of people telling things behind peoples' backs. They'll arrest that guy because he's no longer useful. So of these agencies, the CIA, the NSA, which is seven times that of the CIA, the FBI, which has a bigger footprint now than ever in the terrorism world, these agencies have been playing nice but it's still a very tricky world because of these safeguards that we protect.

[02:40:16] VAUSE: Quickly, Steve, this came at the end of the Euro 2016 football tournament. A huge security operation. That went off without a hitch. Without being too critical of French security, they let down their guard, breathed a sigh of relief?

MOORE: It's possible. And I don't want to be critical of them because they're some of the best and they are under the most pressure. It is however possible that after this happened, they started to say now we can get leave done, now the people who haven't had vacation in weeks, blah, blah, blah. That doesn't change the fact that they needed to protect against something they've never seen before.

VAUSE: Steve and Aaron, thank you both for staying with us.

SESAY: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Appreciate it.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now. And we'll bring you up to date on the terror attack in Nice, France, after a quick break.

Just ahead, why one woman says the sounds were just as bad as the sights.

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SESAY: Hello, everyone. We're following breaking news on the terror attack in Nice, France. The French interior ministry says 84 people have been killed according to the AFP.

VAUSE: A man in a white truck opened fire on a beach front promenade and then plowed his vehicle into the crowd. The police shot and killed him.

VAUSE: Earlier, our colleague, Anderson Cooper, spoke with an American who was in Nice at the time of the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:45:57] UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS (voice-over): We were standing on the terrace of the apparently where we're staying. And we're staying just west of Negresco of the Promenade des Anglais. The fireworks had just ended so there were thousands of people on the beach. And they had just started to disband. And they -- so people were flooding the streets just walking away from the show. And I heard a lot of loud noises and people were screaming. And so to the West, a big moving truck was driving on the promenade just barreling over people and running people over.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You actually saw that?

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: Yes.

COOPER: How fast was it moving?

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: I think about, like, 20 to 30 miles per hour. It was, like -- there's just no way it was an accident. Like when I -- it's weird because your mind is trying to make sense of what you're seeing. And so the thought is, well, did somebody get lost? Are they drunk driving? But it -- it took a few seconds just to register that this was intentional.

COOPER: I can't imagine what that's like standing there. You're with your teenager with your husband.

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: Uh-huh, yeah. It was very -- it's just something you're not supposed to see at all and I grabbed my son and I just felt like shielding him and protecting him from seeing that because it was horrific, but it all happened so fast, the was like in slow motion.

COOPER: So you said the truck was to the West. Was that coming towards you?

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: Yes.

COOPER: What happened then?

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: So the truck proceeded to run people over and the sounds were horrific. You could hear banging sounds as the truck drove over people and things, so people were carry things in their arms and there were some Benches there along the promenade. And just to the east of our apartment, there is a series of about three pergolas that cover parts of the promenade. And as he approached the pergolas, he veered left on to the street and there were people in the street there, as well. And it just went out of our view because there are palm trees there. And as soon as the truck went out of view, we heard a barrage of gunfire and it sounded like a shooting range. And I was trying to make sense out of that, as well. Because I couldn't see what was happening. I wondered, is that fireworks? But it definitely was not fireworks. And you heard screaming and then you just see masses of people fleeing, like, running away. And within a few moments of the gunfire, everything went very quiet, like eerily quiet. And then you started hearing, like, w wailing and creaming and crying, family members finding their loved ones dead. And there are bodies everywhere.

COOPER: Just strewn all down the promenade?

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: Yes. And, you know, I can see about a block's length in front of my apartment. But when I look off in the distance -- because it's pitch black here. So you have to imagine. The fireworks show is going off. It's pitch black. People are watching in the dark and squealing with delight and cheering. That is over. Within seconds, people get up and then the streets are flooded. It's just awful, the scene before this happened. So it's still dark.

Now when I look off into the distance and I see where the emergency vehicle lights are, this guy started on the promenade at least like a mile to the West of us. And then when I looked to the east, it continues at least another mile in the east. So when I see -- directly in front of my apartment, I count 10 dead bodies just in this block. And you can see now because they're covered with tarps. So you can see where the bodies are. And it just is like people are strewn everywhere and there are things strewn everywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: An eyewitness to the terror attacks in Nice.

We want to show you these live pictures now coming to us from Paris where French President Francois Hollande is about to begin an emergency security meeting, bringing together key figures in the administration to discuss next steps after this horrific attack after this horrific attack in Nice, the third attack in 18 months.

[02:50:09] VAUSE: This is at the palace. This comes after the president Hollande addressed the nation at 3:30 a.m. in the morning local time. He is calling for an increase of emergency powers. He wants a three-month extension of that. They have been if place since the attack in Paris back in November. Very controversial. Many people in France are against that. They see that as an attack on democracy and their liberty, as well. But at this point, the president seems to think there's no other choice, as well.

The president also went on to say that France will strengthen its action in Syria and in Iraq, taking the fight to those on who took the terrorist attack on to French soil. So, in other words, increased air strikes on the targets in Syria. We continue to monitor the situation. That meeting set to get under way any minute now. We'll keep you updated there. We'll bring you the details on that.

In the meantime, we'll take a short break. Back in a moment.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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[02:55:06] SESAY: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching our continuing coverage of the breaking news out of France.

A warning here, the video you're about to see, it's been edited, but it remains extremely graphic.

French media says 84 people have been killed after the driver of a large truck plowed through a crowd which was celebrating the French national holiday, Bastille Day, in Nice. These images you see right now are from the aftermath of Thursday night's attack.

SESAY: Officials say police shot and killed the driver of the truck. They are trying to determine if the identity card of a 31-year-old French-Tunisian man found in the truck's cab belongs to the driver.

VAUSE: We're getting some graphic images on social media, much worse than that, showing the carnage of what happened.

Before we go this hour, some other cities which have been hit with terror are showing solidarity with Nice.

SESAY: This was Dallas, Texas. The city was rocked by an attack last week when a gunman shot and killed five police officers.

VAUSE: The city's buildings were lit up in blue as a tribute. Now they're added the colors of the French flag.

SESAY: This is Grand Central Station in New York City, the place that endured the worst terrorist attack in the United States, standing strong with the people of France.

You're watching our continuing coverage of the terror attack in Nice. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

We'll be back in a moment.

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[03:00:12] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.