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. >> we just moved everybody one

on top of the other with our hands on the head like this. >> i was terrified. i put my hands on the baby's mouth so she wouldn't scream because i thought if the shooter's close, hopefully he thinks wear laying dead and we're not alive so he won't come and shoot us. the streets were close to empty. people had already ran and at that point, that's why we went on the floor, we were like, we're sitting ducks. it's not like there's a bunch of people and we can run with the crowd. everybody had already realize what was going on way before we realized what was going on and at that point the smartest thing to do was -- floor and hope. >> now they survived. but this morning a family spokesperson tells nbc news that american father and his son, sean copeland and his 11-year-old son brodie, this from lakeway texas, they did not make it out alive. the spokesperson said, quote, we are heartbroken and in shock over the loss of brodie copeland, an amazing son and

brother who lit up our lives, and sean copeland, a wonderful husband and father. they are so loved. the paris prosecutor's office has reportedly opened a terrorism investigation and the state of emergency dating back to those attacks at the bataclan has been extended now. it was set to expire on july 26th. but president francois hollande announced last night it will continue for another three months. and during a news conference, hollande said, quote, france, as a whole, is under the threat of islamic terrorism. he said operational reserves have been called up to assist police, particularly along the borders. hollande also said france would step up its bombing of isis targets in both syria and iraq. as for president obama, he issued a statement saying, in part, on behalf of the american people i condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be an horrific terrorist attack. let's go live now to nice, france. nbc news' janet shamlian, who's been there since the middle of the night. janet, welcome to you. give us the latest on the

investigation and what you're seeing on the ground there on this very somber morning. >> well it looks like this is a very active investigation still, alex. because the police, who number must be, you know, well over 1,000 they are at basically every intersection of the promenade des anglais, have put up a, kind of a white sheet around a temporary fence, if you will, that looks like it was the place where most of this unfolded. or at least where it came to an end last night. so they are obviously protecting evidence there, and some of it might be sensitive. we don't know if they've removed all the bodies at this point. but they're being very protective of the area. even tourists who are san diego in hotels that run along the promenade des anglais, which is probably a couple of miles in length, alex, are not able to kind of walk out the front of their hotel. they have to go out the back. nothing is happening here it

seems very quickly, they are very measured response. it's a very heavy police presence, not just here, but at the airport, which is probably about two miles away from where this all took place. what we're seeing right now is people who were at the fireworks last night, kind of slowly venturing out of their hotels, trying to get back to the scene of where this happened. and telling their stories in a number of languages. i've heard italian, and french, and english, and so these people who were here as is evidenced by the unfortunate deaths of the texas man and his son, were from all over. this is a big tourist destination. july is its busiest month. last night, their celebration that is commensurate to our fourth of july is always a big event here that draws tens of thousands of people and it's

generally very family friendly. musicians, and exhibits, and all kinds of entertainment throughout the day, and into the evening. the mood here right now is a beautiful, sunny day, but the mood is dark. alex? >> yeah, you can imagine. all right janet shamlian thank you very much for that live update there from right along the promenade des anglais. in nice, france. now a woman from san diego, dominique molina, tweeted in the aftermath of the attack and posted this video and said the sounds were horrible. a moving truck driving at full speed and running over people, driving perhaps two miles down the promenade, seeing dead bodies right in front of her eyes. >> he was just mowing people down, and so i can't even tell you how many people i saw die in front of my eyes. you have to understand the crime scene itself is like two miles long and there's just pathwa of bodies. >> molina went on to tweet, quote, to understand the horror

you have to know what just happened before. what happened, rather, just before. thousands on the beach watching fireworks, in this photo she says quote just after the fireworks, show ended, people dispersed, this was taken seconds before the driver approached on the right side of the picture. the attack in nice, it is the late nest a string of violence across france over this past year and a half. of course, january 2015 saw two men storming the paris offices of the charlie hebdo satirical newspaper killing 12 people. two days later a gunman attacked a kosher grocery store in paris killing four hostages there. later in the year in november, 130 people were killed after a series of coordinated attacks by isis-linked terrorists at the bataclan concert hall and nearby cafes in paris. france has since been under a state of emergency. now this year on the anniversary of the charlie hebdo attacks officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man who was yo the side of a police station

near paris. investigators found he had a piece of paper with an emblem of isis on it. then in june, a police officer and his companion were killed at their home in a small town west of paris, isis claiming responsibility for that attack. for more on all this i want to bring in our correspondent amon mohyeldin. with a welcome, let's talk about nice. this is a city of many nationalities, partly because of where it is located. geographically it is not far from north africa, just across the mediterranean there. talk to us about that city and what happened there last night in nice. >> yeah, the composition of the city is actually very interesting. there are two sides to the city. there is the side that many in the united states are going to know, that part of the french riviera, so to speak, the affluent, the hotels, the tourist destinations, the promenade full of cafes and restaurants. but a short drive away from that inner city of nice, you go to the outer lying neighborhoods and a very different reality.

mostly descendents of immigrants, north africans, in particular. predominantly muslim community there. and a very economic -- different economic situation than just a few miles away further in to the coastline. the city itself, as we were talking about it, has a mixed composition of, you know, religions, as well as ethnic composition. and there's no doubt that according to one of the reporters who had lived there that we spoke to last night, alex, the community there has been shocked by this. the man identified so far at least the working assumption by french police which nbc news is also working to confirm, is believed to be a national french -- french national of tunisian descent from the city of nice, and according to a journalist we spoke to was known to some of the local authorities there. and that in itself is going to be a cause of concern for french officials. one reporter told us that they were -- this driver, this attacker, was on a criminal list

known to french authorities there. so this is a shocking morning for a city. and then some have been surprised that it has taken this long, given the fact that there have been major incidents all across france, and warnings from french officials in recent weeks, in recent months, particularly even in the city of nice itself, alex. >> ayman, very quickly, let's talk about what was happening at the cannes film festival back in may. i recall covering the amount of security in preparation for that. and that is because they were aware of percolating, of conditions of a level of unrest. i mean they took tremendous steps, intelligencewise, to secure the cannes film festival which is really just a short hop away from nice. so this area in general, is it an area that they now worry may be a place from which a level of terrorists or terrorism may now grow? >> well, you know, on top of that, alex, and that's a very

good point in terms of security preparations of france, particularly there in the south of france, more interestingly, though, is the european soccer championships which had just wrapped up the sunday before this attack, in which france was playing against portugal. aside from that the entire country and in nice itself they had some of the biggest games, some of the biggest matches held there. security was at an all-time high in france. they were bracing themselves. additional resources were deployed. security perimeters had been set up around all of these stadiums. there was a major concern that something was going to happen during those 30 days and same with the cannes film festival knowing that so much of the international media's attention was going to be focused on it. it would have been a spectacular attack, highly symbolic and cutting at the very heart of french values. this is very indicative of these types of attacks we're seeing. symbolic in nature, very crowd, but highly disruptive to the entire country, as well as to the entire city, and you know, at this stage we're not yet sure if there were explosive devices

on that that would have made this much worse. but nonetheless, it was a tragedy given the fact that so many people died. >> you are referencing reports that the back of that white box truck was laden with explosives. we will see more as a result of the investigation. ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much for that. here in the united states, the presidential candidates spoke out in interviews last night beginning with donald trump. >> would you go to congress and ask for a declaration of war? >> i would. i would. this is war. if you look at it, this is war. coming from all different parts, and frankly, it's war, and we're dealing with people without uniforms. these people, we're allowing people into our country who we have no idea where they are, where they're from, who they are. they have no paperwork. they have no documentation. in many cases. and hillary clinton wants to allow 550% more in than even obama. >> there will be by the end of

the summer 10,000 syrian refugees. 20% women, 60% children, 20% men. do you consider those people threats? >> yes. >> do you security them security threats? >> of course i do. >> it's terrible but france has faced too much tragedy and violence and we need to stand strongly with them because events like this remind us how vital it is, in every way, not to abandon them. we need to strengthen our alliances. and i include nato in that. we've got to do more to understand that this is a war against these terrorist groups, the radical jihadist groups. it's a different kind of war. we need to be smart about how we wage it. but we have to be determined that we're going to win it. >> absolutely. >> and that's going to require working with other people. >> well it was a chaotic day in presidential politics. yesterday evening, nbc news and other outlets reported that

donald trump had chosen indiana governor mike pence to be his vice presidential running mate. pence arrived in the new york city area around 6:00 p.m., after a private flight into a new jersey airport for what was supposed to be an 11:00 a.m. announcement this morning. but as more was learned about the terror strike in france trump tweeted quote in light of the horrible attack in nice i have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my vice presidential announcement and then he expounded last night further. >> i haven't made my final-final decision. i mean, i've got three people that are fantastic. i think newt is a fantastic person. i think chris christie is a fantastic person. been a friend of mine for 15 years. just a fantastic person. and there's mike. and mike has done a great job as governor of indiana. you look at the numbers, and it's been great -- you know, he's been really a fantastic job. but i haven't made a final-final decision. >> out of respect for this hoar

hific situation, i just think it was inappropriate to have the news conference tomorrow so i postponed the news conference and we'll announce tomorrow when it will be. >> did the terror attack influence your selection of your vice president? >> no, absolutely not. >> okay. >> what happened is i think it would be totally inappropriate to have a news conference on a vice presidential pick. >> now the "los angeles times" reports that mr. trump told a fund-raiser in bel air that he will name his running mate now over the weekend. his son, donald trump jr., said last night that the announcement will probably come over the weekend. trump's campaign chairman paul manafort spoke at "the washington post" late last night and said they plan to put out something this morning, in fact. asked if mr. trump will meet with mike pence or any other vice presidential prospects, manafort said i'm not going to speak for him. he'll make a statement tomorrow and he'll clarify how we're going to go forward on the issue. meanwhile, governor pence faces a state deadline today, at noon, by which time he must

formally withdraw from his re-election campaign. this to allow indiana republican leaders to select a replacement candidate. well, many of those in the running to be trump's vice presidential pick spoke out in the last few hours about the deadly terror attack. governor mike pence tweeting, quote, the terrorist attack in france is a horrific reminder of the threat facing western civilization. this must end. we must resolve to bring to justice all those responsible and defeat this enemy of civilization at its source. new jersey governor chris christie posted, awful attacks in nice. these attacks are coming too frequently and too many people are lost. we need strong american leadership to save lives. retired army lieutenant general michael flynn also weighed in, writing, in the next 24 hours, i dare arab and persian world quote leaders to step up to the plate and declare their islamic ideology sick and must be healed. he then retweeted another picture, rather, of hillary clinton wearing a head scarf,

quote, this is not showing respect, this is showing disrespect for american values and principles and the #neverhillary. and with his vice presidential hopes waning newt gingrich's reaction to the terror attack included some new proposals. >> let me be as blunt and as direct as i can be. western civilization is in a war. we should, frankly, test every person here who is of a muslim background, and if they believe in sharia, they should be deported. sharia is incompatible with western civilization. modern muslims who have given up sharia, glad to have them as citizens. perfectly happy to have them next door. but we need to be fairly relentless about defining who our enemies are. anybody who goes on a website favoring isis, or al qaeda, or other terrorist groups, that should be a felony. and they should go to jail. any organization which hosts such a website should be engaged in a felony, it should be closed down immediately.

>> still ahead on "way too early," the very latest out of nice, france, where 84 people are dead after a man drove a truck through a packed promenade in what french officials are calling a terror attack. it's a golden opportunity to experience breath-taking lexus performance in street-legal form.

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we continue to follow the very latest out of nice, france, where 84 people have died after a truck drove through arowd celebrating bastille day. that truck reportedly drove about 1.2 miles along a promenade full of people. according to a french official the driver opened fire on the revellers before being fatally shot by police. and at this point, it's still unclear whether the driver acted alone. so far, though, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack. some scary moments in arkansas, as three former world leaders and guests attending a ceremony were forced to seek shelter due to severe weather. >> folks i think we are experiencing a very serious storm.

we need to clear the auditorium but folks, good luck. and godspeed. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen, please stay in your seats until our guests are able to leave the stage. >> that was the scene in little rock last night as a high school graduation featuring former presidents bill clinton, george w. bush, as well as former british prime minister tony blair, was wrapping up. the former leaders were all ushered out of the building. everyone else was taken to the basement. luckily no one was injured. kwh speaking of weather. let's get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist steve sosna. what's it like? >> we have a few areas of thunderstorms out there this morning. some of those in the central plains and some of those thunderstorms that were in arkansas last night have pushed out. another round of storms likely later on today. the severe zone will likely be oklahoma in through kansas. but the rest of the country is

baking in the heat, and i think the east coast here for today, while a little less humid, it's still very hot and the air quality is very lousy as well. we do have excessive heat warnings where you see this in an orange for the philadelphia area where heat values will feel like 100 to 105. take it easy today. don't overexert yourself and drink plenty of water in the northeast. that goes for all weekend long where we will be dealing with the heat. meanwhile, across the country, overall if you want the nice, cool refreshing weather, it's a little bit of a pocket up here in the upper midwest. meanwhile the east coast, the south, is hot, humid, and stormy at times. working your way in to the weekend, where are the best beach spots? new england will be great this weekend. cape cod down across areas of southeast maine. meanwhile the southwestern united states will continue to bake in the heat. that will be the one thing that will remain constant throughout the weekend into early next week, is the heat in the west. and eventually we'll see that heat begin to push off to the north and the east. enjoy that 89 in new york

because it's not a very humid 89. but by next week we may be looking at different story. much of the country sweating it out alex. >> it is july, after all. thank you very much steve sosna. still ahead the very latest from last night's attack in nice, france, as one eyewitness recalls the scene of terror. "way too early" we're back in a moment. ith the data from over 30 billion connected devices. just 30 billion? a bold group of researchers and computer scientists in silicon valley, had a breakthrough they called... the machine. it changed computing forever. and it's been part of every new technology for the last 250 years. everything? everything! this year, hewlett packard enterprise will preview the machine and accelerate the future. see star trek beyond.

we heard the gunshots. and i don't know, maybe 20,

maybe 30. all very close to each other. very, very fast. it was that pop pop pop pop pop pop pop and i realized that the shots were very close to us. we just threw ourselves on the floor, put the baby on the floor. she laid down on top of the baby, and my niece, who is 12, was screaming and crying. >> this morning at least 84 people are dead after a man drove a truck into a group of pedestrians during bastille day celebrations in the french city of nice. french president francois hollande has called the attack a monstrosity and said victims included many children. hollande is expected to travel to nice today. that does it for me and "way too early." "morning joe" picks up our breaking coverage of the attack in nice, france. stay with us. ♪

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to push their strollers, or carry their children, or get their babies to safety. people were running in every direction. >> our breaking news coverage continues breaking news coverag continues here on "morning joe." dozens of people are dead after a truck drove into a crowd in niece, france, in what the president has called a terrorist attack. hundreds were watching fireworks for the bastille day when the truck zigzagged along a promenade of people mowing them down. the driver also fired shots into the crowd. the death toll right now stands at 84. some of them children. people went running in waves. a scene of panic in a resort town and tourist destination. the driver, according to the french president, was fatally shot by police. a french official said they later discovered grenades and in