(AP) It was Bastille Day on the French Riviera.
A lawyer was strolling with her mother, friends and a colleague along the beachfront boulevard in Nice to celebrate France’s national day. Four young sisters from Poland had spent a day of sightseeing. Two Russian students were on a summer break. And a Texas family, on vacation with young children, was taking in some of Europe’s classic sights. The bright lights of the packed boardwalk glittered along the bay like a string of stars.
Those lights would mark a pathway of murder and destruction that night of July 14, 2016. Shortly after the end of a fireworks display, a truck careered through the crowds for two kilometers (1 1/4 miles) like a snow plow, hitting person after person.
The final death toll was 86, including 15 children and adolescents, while 450 others were injured.
