A witness said that he thought the truck initially lost control.
Footage of French police taking out Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel in a hail of bullets has been released, showing the tense moments after the man drove a truck through a crowd of people in Nice.
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Witnesses of the Bastille Day attack say he was shooting wildly at revelers. French police desperately chased the truck to try and stop the rampage but the driver kept going for more than a mile.
Police were filmed shooting at the terrorist head on, stopping the truck and its vicious driver in the middle of the road.
Authorities found a cache of large weapons in the back of the truck, including a pistol, larger gun and grenades, implying the killer may have had an even deadlier assault in mind.
One witness who filmed the police shooting told CBS News that he and others celebrating initially thought the driver had simply lost control of his vehicle.
“Everyone thought it was an accident,” he said. “French police surrounded the car and they started to shoot. In that moment I knew something was wrong.”
Read: 84 Dead In Terrorist Attack At Bastille Day Celebration in France: 'There Was Carnage'
He added that as he was filming “a police officer screamed at me to go away. They screamed at all the people on the beach ‘run quickly!’ So, I ran.”
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel left behind a bloody trail, killing 84 people and injuring 202. According to French President Francois Hollande, 52 people are currently in critical condition at local hospitals.
Hollande addressed the country Friday morning, saying: “France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy. There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack.”
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