The attacker – named by French media as Brahim Aoussaoui – was shot in the shoulder by police and taken to hospital. He had no identity papers on him. He is reported to be a 21 year old Tunisian national who arrived in France via Lampedusa in Italy at the beginning of October.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the man had said “Allahu Akbar” several times while he was being arrested and handcuffed by police.
He said one of the female victims had been “decapitated” but he had no details of how the two others were killed.
“We have two people killed inside the church … and a third person who was in a bar facing the church where she had taken refuge,” Estrosi said. “Enough is enough … we have to remove this Islamo-fascism from our territory.”
Two more Islamic stabbers were neutralized by police on Thursday as well. Those individuals have attained ambient temperature.