good morning everyone. we are following breaking news of an apparent terrorist attack in the french area of niece. it killed at least 84 people, many of them children. over a dozen people are critally wounded. french president spoke to his country last night calling for vigilance. >> after paris in january 2015 and again in november of last year now it is niece's turn but it is france in it's entirety

which is targeted by islamic terrorism. in such circumstances we must demonstrate that we are very vigilant and that our nation is unshakable. >> witnesses say the driver was purposely aiming the truck at the crowd, zigzagging so he could kill as many people as possible. police look into whether there may have been an acome police. at least two americans are killed in this attack. sean brodie and his son were killed in this. his family says we are heartbroken over the loss of our son and brother and sean cope land, a wonderful son and father. they have so loved.

good morning lucy. let's get the latest on the attack. >> reporter: good morning. the french president trying to hold together this devastated nation after things were starting to return to normal after the attacks in november. here is what we know so far. french media siting police sourts reporting that i.d. papers were found in a truck. a source telling nbc news that the attacker was a french national of tu knee shan decent. he drove nearly a mile down the pack packed. there has been no claim of responsibility yet but we did see cheering from jihadist linked accounts. the french president arrived in the last hour.

france will be boosting the number of security forces on the ground. that includes keeping some 10,000 french soldiers but also calling up the reserves. the state of emergency in that country was supposed to expire and they are vowing to ramp up military action in iraq and syria. world leaders obviously expressing their condolences. the u.s. state department also confirming the deaths of those two americans that you mentioned warning u.s. citizens to stay vigilant, to stay in touchl with friends, to let loved ones know they are okay. obviously it was meant to terrify and terrify it did. >> all right. thank you for the late oens tstt front. joining us was emad.

welcome to you and thank you for joining us. so i understand that you were there in the area. you traveled from your home, you're vacationing, watching the fireworks and tell us when you knew something was drastically wrong! i w . >> i was in my friend's fi apartment. we went to watch the fireworks. after the fireworks finished. we started taking pictures until we heard people screaming. we looked back and found that lots of people were running and it was really really crowded. then i realized there was a truck behind them and a truck going in a very fast way.

it was crashing people over all the way. >> so you watched this truck? i mean it looked like it was intentional, like it was going from the street and zigzagging and looking for as many people -- did you ever think it was someone having a medical emergency or was it very obvious to you that this was intentional? >> well, in the very beginning i thought it was just a drunk driver maybe but then i realized it's way too much. a drunk driver could never do such kind of stuff. so i freezed for 5 seconds. i was really shocked. then i realized that i had to run. but the mistake i did was i ran into the wrong direction. i ran towards the truck.

there was a bench blocking my way. i had to jump over it. the truck was really really close to me. so when i jumped over the bench i just looked back and i found that the bench is already crashed so it was raleally clos to me, about 20 se-- what i >> what is it that you keep playing over and over in your mind? >> excuse me? >> when you think about this are you seeing the scenes over and over in your mind? >> yeah. i couldn't sleep yesterday because of what i saw, the people laying on the floor. it was really -- it was really a

horrific scene. >> all right. we are very glad for your safety and we wish you a sense of peace of peace as you try to get through this. let's switch gears to steve who will bring us the forecast as we head into the weekend. we would like to have some good ne news. >> yes. it will be a good weekend for many folks along the northern coastline. it lasts through much of the weekend. i think you'll enjoy much of the temperatures here. 90s are here and ocean water temperatures are here too. we are seeing showers and storms on sunday. i think saturday will be the pick of the weekend for those locations. heat continues across the south and much of the southwest. that is a look at the weatherer

triple digit heat. >> think about out west, it's not as humid usually where we get the humidity here. >> it is all about the humidity. less sweating is an incredible thing. >> thank you. what the attack means here at home. you're watching "early today." l" it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous always keep laundry pacs away from children. keep them up. keep them closed. keep them safe.

no, no, no, no, [music] people are both soft and strong... yey! which is why our products are too. angel soft. see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis.

an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur... ...tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me. see me. see me. on my way. find clear skin... and a clearer path forward. for a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. it has been almost 15 hours since a man drove husband truck into a crowd of people killing at least 84 people. reports of 50 in the hospital, 18 of whom are battling for their lives in critical condition. i want to bring in a former cia counter terrorist. she also the thor of fine fix

finish. welcome to you. this has been called by the president of france a terrorist attack. walk me through what we know and any sort of attribution. so far no terrorist group has claimed responsibility. >> that's right. it often times takes a one or two day lag for a terrorist group to call this their own. we know an individual that french media identified as a frenchman came and drove his truck along a major boulevard in east france and killed over 80 people. details are still sketchy, why did he do it? was it a planned attack? is it a spur of the moment thing? it is something intelligence

services will be piecing together in the days coming forward. >> and is the promenade, part of what was so confusing at first is fireworks had just ended and then there was the sound of the truck and there was gunfire. what do we know about that? was it an exchange of gunfire between the police and the driver or was he in addition shooting at people as well? >> we know that the truck driver traveled far pretty long time. if you think about it, most of these french cities don't really have a long boulevard to run and hit people. the police finally killed him. did he have accomplices? how did he get his vehicle? how did he get his firearms?

there are reports they found grenades in the vehicle. >> and i want to ask you about that. it is one thing to get access to that kind of armor and the ammunition and grenades and things like that here in the united states but in france it's a lot more difficult which would suggest some sense of accomplice. >> it is harder to get high-powered fire armarmfirearm. it is actually not quite that hard if you know who to talk to. so we know that from the '90s there is a huge sort of arms relationship and arms dealers working and they are selling millions and millions of hi high-powered rifles. if you know them through criminal networks you can certainly purchase these kinds

of weapons in europe. >> all of that will certainly be looked at very closely in the investigation. thank you so much. appreciate that. >> thanks. from the campaign trail to the white house politicians here at home are reacting to the horrific attack in nice. that's next. in nice. that's next. medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a

different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. no, no, no, no, [music] people are both soft and strong... yey! which is why our products are too. angel soft. and our adult children-laws have are here. still.d in with us. so we save by using tide. which means we use less. three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. those are mom's. has anybody seen my pants? lasts up to two times longer. put those on, dad! it's got to be tide.

the scene of terror there in nice, france. law may eric reacted quickly. president obama said i directed my team to be in contact with french officials and we offered any help they need to bring those responsible to justice. we stand with our oldest ally as they recover from this attack. donald trump made the decision to postpone his v.p. he said it would be inappropriate to do so following last night's attack in france. trump through cold water on that last night in an interview with fox news. >> i had a news conference planned for tomorrow and out of respect for this horrific situation i thought it was

inappropriate to have the news conference tomorrow. i postponed the news conference and we'll announce tomorrow when it will be. let me say this. i have great respect for governor pence. i have great respect for chris christie. we have tremendous people in the republican party. i'll be making the announcement at the appropriate time. >> they told donors the announcement will be made over the weekend. despite the reelection filing deadline in the governor's home state of indiana. that's later today. trump also made clear to demand congress to declare war or isis. he also president obama's sentiments for the use of force last year. >> we need law and order in our country. we need to stop with the borders. we need to stop allowing people to come into our country who we don't know where they are from and where they are from.

clinton and obama want to allow more people into our country. what are they doing? >> clinton said the swes clearly at war with the terror group. >> we still do not have enough intelligence cooperation between our agencies and those in other countries including in europe. we need strong, tough diplomacy, starting with our friends to do on a bilateral basis, collectively with nato and others to do everything we need to be prepared to work with each other, to fair out the terrorists and prevent future attacks. then there was v.p. hopeful newt gingrich. he proposed for people of muslim backgrounds. >> western civilization is in a

war. we should test everyone in muslim background. if they believe in sheeria they should be punished. anybody who goes on a web site favoring isis or wall kwal qaed should go to jail. any organization which hosts such a web site it should be closed down immediately. >> gingrich's comments come as peter king called for the surveillance of muslim communities. >> i think we have to forget about hurting people's feelings. there are people in the muslim community. it is a small minority but they are there. i think if we hold back it is a sign of weakness. we have to be looking at the muslim community. we have to be calling on them to make sure they cooperate and step forward. just ahead, the hunt far

serial killer intensifies plus more on the bastile attack. you're watching "early today." you're watching "early today." and take all of his gold! and take all of his gold! ya! and hide it from the crew! ya...? squuuuack, they're all morons anyway! i never said that. they all smell bad too. no! you all smell wonderful! i smell bad! if you're a parrot, you repeat things. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. squuuuack, it's what you do.

choose lasting revlon colorstay™ makeup with a mess-free pump that delivers a flawless all-day look, for every skin type and tone. in two formulas, and 35 shades. for a love that lasts. choose love colorstay™ makeup with mess free pump from revlon. see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i find what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months.

while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur... ...tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms... ...such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me. see me. see me. on my way. find clear skin... and a clearer path forward. for a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. >> we koncontinue to follow the attack in nice, france. at least 84 confirmed dead. french president has vowed to

strengthen attacks against isis in iraq and syria. some other news we are following for you, a serial killer has police teaming up with the fbi. they are offering up to $30,000 for anyone with information leading to his capture. with the city on edge a neighborhood watch group has been working to patrol the so called killing zone. that is where seven people have been shot in their cars or home driveways. food labels could be at your local super market soon. it requires food products to disclose and the president is expected to sign the gmo bill into law. i'm alex. this is "early today." this is "early today." s throught ♪

of course you go all out for date night... even if you're just staying in. walgreens has all the beauty products you need for whatever makes you feel beautiful. walgreens. at the corner of happy and healthy. now get 5,000 bonus points when you spend 25 dollars or more on participating beauty and personal care products. no, no, no, no, [music] people are both soft and strong... yey! which is why our products are too. angel soft. and our adult children-laws have are here. still.d in with us. so we save by using tide. which means we use less. three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. those are mom's. has anybody seen my pants? lasts up to two times longer. put those on, dad! it's got to be tide.

at least 84 people are dead including two americans after a man drove a truck into a group during bastille day celebrations. >> he was on the very very evening because it was the 14th of july, similar to 4th of july in your country. the street was absolutely packed, closed on both sides. we see a huge lorry driving all

over. everybody was going on every fence and then soon you heard bullets and everything went very very fast. suddenly we see about 100,000 people running all around working on each other and sort of a big mess. we didn't realize what was going on. we realized a lorry, he was try to go kill lots of people with his lorry. we tried to close doors but it was very messy and all that. it was very, very, very fast, less than a minute. i saw children and mothers going under the truck. he was very, very quick but it was a nightmare.

yes, yes. we have blood everywhere. it is a nightmare, my friend, sorry. >> what a nightmare. french president announced kilg of 84 people. they say the driver zigzagged to hit as many people as possible. parents throwing their children over fences to avoid being struck. the local paper reports the worse tragedy in the history of nice. the government prepared to end the statement of emergency. in the bbc tears, sympathy and open doors on social media. people took to instruct the witnesser to search for loved ones and family members were reunited with an eight month old baby after appealing for help on facebook. keep it right here. i'm alex witt. have yourselves a great weekend.

stay safe everyone. this morning

first look at the american father and son killed in the attack in nice. >> 51-year-old sean copeland and len-year-old son brodie are from austin, texas. they were vacationing in nice with the family. >> good friday morning. thank you for joining us. i'm some brach. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon. it is 1:30 in the afternoon in nice and that city is still in shock after last night's attack that left at least 84 people dead and so many more injured. >> a man plowed through crowds of people celebrate