France Observing 3 Days of Mourning
HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. We are learning more about the investigation into the Bastille Day massacre in Nice, France. French authorities have arrested an Albanian couple in connection with that attack. Six people are now in custody. The suspect's ex-wife was released Sunday without charges.</s>ALLEN: Tunisian national Mohamed Bouhlel drove a 20-ton truck, we all know that truck by now, into a crowd, of course, that have gathered to watch the fireworks Thursday night. 84, that's the death toll right now. But more than 200 were injured. Bouhlel was shot to death by police.</s>HOWELL: And on this day, France is observing three days of mourning, the third day, this day remembering the victims of that terror attack in Nice. And that is where my colleague Max Foster joins us now live. Max, it's good to have you with us. So if you could just explain to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world the mood of people there in Nice and throughout France, how are the French coming together, given what happened there?</s>MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I was pretty struck walking here. Because there have been huge crowds obviously coming down to see the flowers here. But there are no crowds here at the moment. And when you look down the Promenade, there are these patches of memorial, patches of flowers marking out where all the bodies lay after the attack on Thursday night. And it really brings home to you, really what happened that evening, and how people are really struggling to cope with it. And amongst the flowers, you see drawings that children have drawn of literally. A truck running people over. It's really quite poignant when you come down here and the crowds aren't here. We understand that later on today, florists in the city will come down to the sea front here and lay flowers on the beach in memory of them. There may be a minute silence as well. Last night there was a mosque service. Ten members of one congregation at one mosque, all perished in the attack. And one of our producer Florence went along to that and it's a very moving occasion. I think people are just still in shock. But it's really starting to sink in. And you can see that sort of emotion swelling up here. Meanwhile, the investigation continues, and we find out more about the attacker himself. Here is Will Ripley.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohammed Bouhlel was a delivery driver with a wife, three children and a volatile personality. In March, he threw a wooden palette at another driver in a fit of road rage. Corentin Delobel was his lawyer in that case and got him a six- month suspended prison sentence. I told myself I did my job, he says, but if I had done my job badly, he might be in prison and maybe he would have never done what he did. He struggles with a sense of guilt and shock. Delobel says his weight lifting, heavy drinking client was not an extremist. But he did have a record of domestic violence, accused of beating and humiliating his now estranged wife. He was very much the stereotype of a petty criminal, he says. There was nothing that would have suggested in reality he was a Jihadist. (on-camera): He says the attacker didn't really stand out in the crowd and wouldn't have raised any suspicion when prosecutors say he came here to the Promenade des Anglais not once, but twice in the days leading up to the attack. His brother says he even sent a photo that night of himself looking happy in the crowd. (voice-over): Prosecutors also say Bouhlel sent a text message to someone just before the attack, telling them to bring more weapons. Police are questioning several people. A source tells CNN those who knew Bouhlel say he began speaking in support of ISIS. The terror group has called him one of its soldiers. "He wasn't very intelligent," he says. I imagine he could have been easily influenced by religion. Bouhlel was never overtly religious. Never on a watch list. France's interior minister says he likely radicalized very rapidly, committing one of the worst terror attacks in recent history. And nobody, not even his lawyer saw it coming. Will Ripley, CNN, Nice, France.</s>FOSTER: Very big political debates are bubbling up around this as well. We're running up to an election here in France. And it's all the discussion of the moment is about security and immigration. What sort of role that plays into the security situation in the country. So it's having wide repercussions, well beyond here in Nice. Back to you, George.</s>HOWELL: It does seem that security, and it's a similar line, that is playing out here in the United States, Max. International correspondent Max Foster live for us in Nice, France. Max, thank you for your reporting.</s>ALLEN: ISIS has claimed the nice terror suspect as one of its soldiers. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN the terror group is losing ground, though, and these random acts are a sign it is feeling threatened.</s>JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: People are acting out in various places. But they are not growing in their ability to do things. They are shrinking. We've taken back 40 percent, 45 percent of the territory they held in Iraq. We're squeezing town after town. We've liberated communities. We're making progress now, advancing on Mosul. In Syria, likewise. They're not able to attack and hold towns. They are on the run. And I believe what we're seeing are the desperate actions of an entity that sees the news closing around it.</s>ALLEN: Kerry also told CNN's Jake Tapper that the U.S. had no knowledge of the terror suspect before this attack there in Nice.</s>HOWELL: Let's talk now about the Republican National Convention set to begin in just hours. In Cleveland, Ohio, thousands of people expected to take part in protests there. We'll show you how city officials plan to keep them out of the arena and in the zone, as it is. We'll explain that when CNN NEWSROOM continues.