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good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. it is 5:00 amplgt m. here in the east. it is 11:00 a.m. right there on that map in nice, france, where we are following breaking news of an apparent terrorist attack. this in the french riviera city there where a large truck plowed into a crowd celebrating bastille day, kill at least 84 people, many of them children. over a dozen people are critically wounded. last count was 18 fighting for their lives right now. another 50 having been injured. french president francois hollande spoke to his country last night, calling for vigilance. >> translator: after paris, in january 2015, and then again in november of last year, with

saint-denis, now it is nice's turn to be struck. but it is france in its entirety which is targeted by islamic terrorism. in such circumstances, we must demonstrate that we are very vigilant, and that our determination is unshakable. >> president hollande has also announced he has extended the nation's state of emergency for the next three months. he has vowed to strengthen attacks against isis in iraq and syria. now the driver of this white box truck was killed by police immediately following this atrocity. and authorities say the man was firing on the crowd, as he slammed into them. we've also learned the truck was loaded with weapons and grenades there in the back of that box truck. witnesses say that the driver was purposely aiming at the

truck -- aiming at the crowd there with that truck, zigzagging, in fact, so he could try to kill as many people as possible. but so far, no group has taken official responsibility for this attack. police are still looking into whether there was an accomplice. and the president again, as you can see pictures here, having conseened a security council meeting this morning as the investigation into the attack continues. meanwhile some very sad news to report here as we are getting confirmation that two of the five people in this picture, two americans, were killed in the attack. they are 51-year-old sean copeland, you see him there to the very left of that beautiful family. his 11-year-old son brodie as well killed. that young gentleman right there in front. they were from lakeway, texas. that is an area close to austin, texas. such tragedy they're feeling right now. nbc news correspondent janet shamlian is on the ground for us in nice. janet, i know that you got there and you at day break were seeing the ramifications and aftermath

of this scene of carnage. talk about what you've seen there. >> alex, i got here in the middle of the night. i was only about nine miles away, and i've actually been to this fireworks display many, many times. it's a family event. tens of thousands of people come out. when i got here last night, it was very still except for the presence of hundreds of police officers along the promenade des anglais, where i am near now. and i'm not sure if you can see my shot, but that is the promenade ahead of us. and along that white -- along that fence, they put up a cover. this is exactly where the truck stopped, and where it took gunfire, where the gunman was eventually killed. as we try to get a little bit closer, they're preventing us from taking too many photos here, that is a crime scene, and there is still evidence beyond that temporary fence. but as you can see people are walking along the street here.

it's a very sad and somber mood here in nice. and there is still evidence along this long promenade. usually at this time of day, it would be filled with beach goers, and people running and walking and pushing strollers. and now, beyond the barricade, it is absolutely still. there is still a helicopter parked along the promenade. there are police vehicles going back and forth. but, i think it's fair to say that this is a city that is quite a bit in shock at this time, alex. unbelievable. >> oh, it is unbelievable. and we're getting one view of what you're describing there, that cordoned off area, and you talk about the crime scene. janet, we understand that this crime scene is incredibly long. that there were bodies strewn over what was described as maybe a two kilometer area? >> yeah. they've cordoned off the entire promenade des anglais.

you know, you can liken it a little bit to lake shore drive in chicago where you have the beach, and this long drive, and it's all essentially shut down. people who are even staying on hotels are having to go kind of walk back a block, because it's completely locked down. it was a scene of carnage for a long distance, and alex, i looked at a video from a witness, and he was right there. it showed the police shooting at that truck. the man inside wearing a helmet and eventually slumped over the dashboard of that truck. and the aftermath, you know, is something you can't unsee. just bodies everywhere. i just couldn't believe it. nothing that we would put on television, but it was just remarkable in its tragic. >> janet, we are accessing the video that you're providing for us right now.

and you see there's a biker in front of you there. he's just pulled up to sort of see for himself what happened. but others they're just standing there. they're immobile. i mean it is as if everybody is in shock. as to what happened. you can't even believe it. >> i think you're asking who are these people or who is that police officer? >> no, i was just talking about the people just being in shock. they're looking, they're stopped, standing still just looking at this, taking it all in. they can't believe what's happened. >> yeah, i'm sorry, it's really windy here and there's a lot of people taking the cell towers right now. yes, if you're asking about the people who come out, you can see them, cyclists, tourists, many of them were here last night and are now emerging to tell their stories. the hotel tells me that people are checking out and leaving town. the airport here, alex, seems to be operating normally. my daughter flew out of there on an early morning flight to munich but she said it was a heavy police presence, and she

said it was as crowded as it was, the mood was dark and quiet. and i would say the same about the city of nice at this time. >> oh, you can imagine. and, janet, you make mention of the hotels there, which say that understandably people are cutting short vacations, they want to check out. that wasn't the situation last night. we understand the hotels were a place of refuge, not only paying patr patrons, but they invited anybody to come in and escape the carnage on the boulevard. >> the negresco hotel which is just a short distance from where that truck ended its rampage, it took -- when i arrived it was probably 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, and people weren't injured, but they were in a state of shock and the hotel had brought down blankets, and was allowing people who were not guests just to sit there and collect themselves. and there were quite a few people doing that.

>> yeah. and, janet, we want to make mention, we have official confirmation that two americans are among those 84 known to be killed. not to mention others have been injured and many fighting for their lives right now. but predominantly, would you say this is a european crowd? is it a french crowd that you came upon last night? being that this was bastille day, their version of independence day? >> this is high season in the city of nice. and so there are a lot of tourists, and the hotels here are completely booked along the promenade. i would call it maybe a 50/50 mix of people. tourists, and french from all over who come and book a hotel in nice specifically for this event. it's very family friendly. there are concerts going on. a jazz festival in coordination with it. and it's -- even though it's late in the evening, you see children in strollers, and you know, i've come down here a

number of times myself and now i'm being waved off by the police officer on the live picture here, so let me backov a little bit and give them their space. i would say that it's a mix. certainly the portion that we're -- we're going to have to stop the live feed here. turn around this way. you understand, alex, that they want to preserve that scene and they don't want anything being photographed that is sensitive and certainly there are sensitive items of evidence. >> yes. and janet, we are being -- >> let me just show you now a street here -- >> janet actually, we're being respectful of that in our control booth. they're able to see exactly what you are providing for us, and in accordance with the officials they're asking you to turn your camera away we've taken a different set of video that we're showing again. we're showing right now this again this white box truck as it was accelerating and getting into speeds of up to maybe 30 plus miles an hour while mowing down people along this two kilometer promenade.

the promenade des anglais. normally a place of great joy and happiness, and serene beauty looking out over the mediterranean. anything but last night. janet shamlian, i know that you're gathering more information for us and we look forward to speaking with you again. thank you so much for that live report from nice. >> you bet. >> we're going to have much more ahead for all of you, including what the france terror attack could mean for americans here at home.

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it has been about 12 hours since people suffered the unthinkable, a epic horror scene there on the coast of the mediterranean in nice, france, where a white box truck was driving along the promenade des anglais and while doing so, and speeding up to intentionally inflict harm on people, has left 84 people dead, 18 people critically wounded, about 50 in hospitals. as a result of the carnage here of this truck just plowing through a crowd of revellers while they were celebrating the fireworks display and the

aftermath there of bastille day. that is france's version of the fourth of july. it is their independence day. brian levin is a terrorism analyst and professor of criminal justice at california state san bernardino and brian joins us to talk about things. you and i spoke last hour and you found it most curious, brian, that in the back of that truck, which we've just showed our viewers, when it came to a stop, and the 31-year-old french national who is described as tunisian descent was dead, they were able to get a look inside that truck and see vast amounts of explosives. there were -- there was ammunition, there were grenades, there were rifles that, you know, that kind of thing. talk about how curious you find that given where this was in france. it's not like it's in the united states, where access to that would be easier. >> great question. certainly, long rifles, semiautomatic assault weapons, are much harder to get in france, not impossible, but very difficult. also, if we're talking about military-style munitions, that's

not easy to get, either. there is a black market, but very difficult to get. what i'm curious to know, whether we're talking about handheld grenades? which could be used by a lone assailant. or if we're talking about the truck itself becoming a v-bed. a vehicle-born explosive device. and we've seen that. we've seen that in the world trade center '93 attack. we saw it in the attack on the alfred p. murrah federal building april of 1995. it sounds like what we're talking about are individually launched explosives, such as grenades, which could be thrown by an attacker, who's trying to fire and throw these explosives and incendiary devices into a crowd. either way it is a chilling thing. >> oh, absolutely. and, brian, this man was known to local officials for some pretty crime, things like that,

but no official investigation on behalf of investigative authorities rooking at intelligence and the like. but when you describe what was found in the back of his truck, how likely is it that they will be looking for and perhaps find accomplices here? >> excellent point. here's something that exists in france that does not exist in any meaningful way, yet, but it could, here in the united states. and that is in france, there is an infrastructure not only outside of prisons, but inside of prisons, where people who have been arrested for petty offenses are recruited by groups like isis, or farm team recruiters for isis. and we've seen that prior to, for instance, the charlie hebdo attack, as well as paris. so, i believe that there are accomplices here.

it sounds too sophisticated, as far as the type of weaponry he had. it was just a truck, it would be one thing. but the weaponry tells me there's a greater conspiracy. maybe one that was hatched with criminals or people who he knew from prison. >> well, we know that investigators are certainly looking into everything they can right now. brian levin, thank you so much for your insight. coming up after the break we're going to have the latest statement from the french prime minister. stay with us. you focus on making great burgers, or building the best houses in town. or becoming the next highly-unlikely dotcom superstar. and us, we'll be right there with you, helping with the questions you need answered to get your brand new business started. we're legalzoom and we've already partnered with over a million new business owners to do just that. check us out today to see how you can become one of them. legalzoom. legal help is here. wiback like it could used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the attack in nice, france. we are getting confirmation that at least two americans were killed in this attack. a 51-year-old father, and his 11-year-old son from lakeway, texas. meanwhile, french president hollande has convened a security council meeting this morning, and france's prime minister manuel valls just made a statement following that meeting. >> translator: once again france has been hit by terrorist attack. cowardly and inhuman terrorist attack. and our thoughts in this very difficult moment go to the victims and their families affected by this unbearable act. we're facing the war which terrorism has declared on us and is waging on us, and the goal of terrorism is to create fear and manic. france, and the french president has reminded us, that yesterday is a great country and a great

democracy that will not allow itself to be destabilized by this. >> the french prime minister valls there, speaking after that security meeting. let's bring in msnbc's cal perry. cal, as we look at this scene right there, you've got the ambulances, and that is the aftermath of the kind of carnage that we saw there along the promenade des anglais. 84 people mowed down by this box truck. but it was a street that was closed off to traffic because of all the revellers for bastille day. >> yeah. and what you're not seeing here was the street was packed full of people. imagine any beach on the fourth of july watching fireworks. it's a place you take your kids. that's one of the emerging stories here. we already know of the 11-year-old american who was killed. we're hearing from the mayor now that it sounds like ten kids may have died in this. so we're talking about a target that was families, watching fireworks, on bastille day, in a place that's an international tourist destination. this is nice. it's right down the road from cannes. this is right down the road from the cannes film festival.

so this was the definition of a soft target, which we keep saying time and time again. and the confusion, not only here as you see people running, but nationwide reports of a fire at the eiffel tower. reports of a hostage situation in the hotels. france is a city that, as you heard from the president, is at war. >> yeah, it is. and you mentioned tragically that 11-year-old we can confirm that two americans from lakeway, texas, have died. it's sean copeland, a 51-year-old father, and his son brodie. just 11 years old. lakeway is an area that's very close to austin, texas. certainly our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to them as well as everybody else. and the kinds of people that would be there celebrating. i mean, it is family laden. we had janet shamlian talking about that. we've seen unfortunately the kind of video that we don't want to show which is of strollers that have been mowed down and things that indicate just the precious nature of these young, innocent lives. >> it's a national holiday. this is the antithesis of what we're seeing in international terror. which is the things you take for

granted. right? public transportation, holidays, things where you're supposed to be comfortable. places you're not going to have your guard up. a night club. a holiday watching fireworks. >> going to a concert. >> these are things where people are caught off guard and then you have that mass confusion which inevitably leads to more and more deaths. the thing that's horrifyingly astonishing about this is so far this is one person that has killed 84 people. >> but you make that point, yes, one person but the concept of taking this heavy truck, moving it down this street, and mowing down people, but it was laden with explosives. the likelihood of some sort of accomplice has to be pretty high at this point. >> oh, absolutely. i mean, it takes -- it's a difficult process getting long guns, these rifles that we hear, the french police refer to, it's not walking to a walmart in france. >> things that were found in the back of that truck, grenades, ammunition and the like. like we said, you don't find that kind of stuff here -- i mean there. it's much more difficult to get

your hands on that. >> right. so they're going to be tracking those papers. we know they have the i.d. of the attacker. >> described as a french national, but of tunisian descent, 31 years old. >> right. so he fits the profile of sort of the people that they would be looking for, the question is, what rerationship does he have? they're going to be talking to all of the countries that are in this area. belgium, france, germany. >> interestingly, though, this person was known to police, sort of for some petty crimes but not on an intelligence watch list. >> and how often do we see that in this country. somebody that is known to authorities but is not raising the red flags that are going to get them either picked up or -- you will see now, and we will have a pretty good idea of where this investigation is going by where the raids take place. >> okay, cal perry thank you so much for getting us through all this coverage. coming up next for all of you on "way too early" we're going to take you back to nice for the very lightest on the ground. stay with us, i'm alex witt.

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complete chaos. people were running. people were on their phones trying to call loved ones. there were lots of families out, lots of, i remember, moms trying to push their strollers, or carry their children, or get their babies to safety. people were running in every direction. >> good morning, everyone. it is a very somber day on this friday, july 15th. i'm alex witt. we have a big day of news to get through here. this morning, dozens of people are dead after a truck drove into a crowd in nice, france, in what president francois hollande has called obviously a terrorist attack. hundreds were watching

fireworks, for bastille day, when the truck reportedly zigzagged along a promenade full of people, the promenade des anglais. and a french official says the driver also fired shots into the crowd. the death toll right now stands at 84. some of them children. people, of course, went running in waves, a scene of panic, and what this time of year is a resort town usually and a very popular tourist destination. now the driver, according to the french president, was fatally shot by police. and a french official says that they later discovered grenades and explosives all lined up there in the back of that white box truck. now authorities are trying to figure out whether that driver acted alone. of course, the scene afterwards, absolutely grisly. bodies were strewn across an otherwise scenic promenade and caught in the middle, an american family from hollywood with a baby and teenage daughter.