Investigators say they are yet to find evidence that he pledged allegiance to radical groups or had contact with known extremists, although Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack.
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Authorities said Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian living in Nice, became radicalized “very recently” before he rammed a 19-ton delivery truck into the crowd at the Bastille Day celebrations Thursday night.
Joggers, cyclists and sun-seekers are back on Nice’s famed Riviera coast as signs of normal life return to the city’s famous Promenade des Anglais, where dozens were killed in last week’s Bastille Day truck attack.
Seven people remain in custody following the massacre, some of whom are said to have helped Bouhlel obtain the pistol he used before being shot dead by police following his rampage.
There was also a photo of the cover of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were gunned down in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, in Paris in January a year ago.
Neighbors described the attacker as volatile, prone to drinking and womanizing, and in the process of getting a divorce.
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also held a minute of silence to honor the victims.
Numerous dead and injured were children watching a Bastille Day fireworks display with their families.
The jokes showed defiance in the face of multiple deadly attacks on French soil in recent months.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, a news service affiliated with the jihadists said Saturday.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls was loudly booed Monday as he came to a memorial ceremony on the Nice shore, an expression of widespread criticism of the government’s security measures.
French officials could not confirm Monday that attacker Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel had been approached by an Algerian recruiter, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
A cyclist looks at the flowers and messages placed along the beach of the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice, southern France, Wednesday, July 20, 2016.
“Pope Francis has prayed for the end of “terror and death” of innocents as he expressed closeness to families and all of France mourning the loss of lives, “even of many children”, in the truck attack”.
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ISIL said it carried out the attack in response to calls to target civilians in countries that are part of a coalition fighting ISIL.
