A week ago, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel plowed a semi-trailer truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing more than 80. Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Nice resident of Tunisian descent, was the lone driver steering the truck, but French officials said Thursday authorities had taken five people into custody whom they consider “accomplices” in the attack. Prosecutors also say Bouhlel was plotting the rampage for many months.
Despite this new evidence, prosecutors still have not found a direct link between Bouhlel and ISIS, though ISIS channels praised the Nice massacre and the attacker. Yet the electronic evidence reveals that Bouhlel had likely espoused radical ideology longer than authorities first believed. Authorities also raided Bouhlel’s apartment and confiscated and scoured his computer. The Guardian reports investigators found searches about Osama bin Laden, the mass shooting in Orlando, the cop killing in Dallas, and information about Nice’s Bastille Day fireworks celebration.
