French Consul General working to locate missing UC Berkeley student

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - The French Consul General said he is working with officials in Nice to help locate the UC Berkeley student, Nicolas Leslie, 20, of Del Mar, California who was missing following the terror attack Thursday night.

Consul General Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens thanked the Bay Area for the flowers and words of condolences that filled a message book at the San Francisco French Consulate.

"In a time when we are absolutely devastated, all these notes, all these messages are very moving for us," Lebrun-Damiens said.

Two Americans are among the 84 victims. The father and son from Texas, Sean Copeland, 51, and his son Brodie, 11, had gone to Nice for a family vacation.

Another 200 people were injured and President Obama pledged support for France and the Copeland family.

"They're grieving. They need all the love and support of our American family as they grapple with an unimaginable loss," President Obama said.

In Nice Friday night, candles, children's stuffed toys and a mound of flowers grew in the place where people were brutally mowed down by the white 19-ton rental truck on the nation's Bastille Day holiday.

The horror, raw and wrenching for those who saw the truck's deadly path, brought people to tears.

"It was zig-zagging to run over as many people as possible. I saw people fly in the sky like bowling pins. I saw babies cry," said Yanei Mariani, a 21-year-old mother, who said in French that she ran with her toddler to get away.

Investigators so far have found no evidence that the terrifying attack has any link to a terror network. No terror groups have taken credit for the attack, although ISIS-linked social media accounts have praised it. Al Qaeda has previously called on sympathizers to use trucks and cars to kill innocent civilians.

The driver, identified as Mohammed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, was a French-Tunisian delivery truck driver and a father of three, who had been convicted of armed robbery, domestic violence and making threats. French media reported that Bouhlel was arrested in March after causing an accident when he fell asleep at the wheel of his truck. He reportedly had lost his job and was in the middle of a divorce.

French prosecutors say he was not on any watch lists or known to be radicalized, and French media said Bouhlel was not seen by police or neighbors as a religious fanatic.

French President Francois Hollande mobilized 10,000 troops and reservists to secure the borders Friday.

"We are facing a long struggle, because we have an enemy that will continue to attack all people and all countries that hold freedom as essential value," President Hollande said.

In San Francisco, a number of French groups are organizing a memorial gathering to honor the victims of the Nice attack. The event is expected to begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center in front of San Francisco City Hall.