Mohamed Bouhlel, the truck driver who rammed into a crowd in the French City of Nice on Thursday, July 14, 2016, was a bisexual, according to investigators.
The Islamic State terror group, ISIS, claim to have inspired Mohamed to mow down hundreds of revelers on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais, leaving 84 people dead.
According to France’s BFMTV, investigators have gleaned that Bouhlel had a busy sex life, with pictures of both female and male conquests on his phone. It is believed that he used dating apps to find new partners.
Bisexuality, or homosexuality, are forbidden vices in Islam, however, interviews with Bouhlel’s friends and relatives in Nice have revealed that he did not behave, at least until recently, like a devout Muslim.
Investigators made a series of findings on the Tunisian national’s phone after the deadly attack, including a text message that reportedly called on another person to “bring more weapons,” according to BFMTV.
The rest of the text read: “Bringing in 5,” according to judicial sources. The recipient of the text remains in French custody. One of Bouhlel’s earlier text messages read: “It’s good. I have the equipment.”
Bouhlel had one working gun, a pistol, while officials discovered a series of fake arms and grenades in his truck after the attack.
Investigators also found a number of selfies and searches for gym addresses and salsa bars. The divorced father-of-three’s phone also showed searches for visits to violent sites where executions were displayed, it is unclear if these were ISIS-related or not.
Bouhlel’s family have painted a picture of a troubled man, with his father and sister confirming that he had to see a psychiatrist for a number of years and, between 2002 and 2004, he had a “nervous breakdown,” Mondher told AFP news agency.
“He would become angry and he shouted. He would break anything he saw in front of him,” he said, speaking to reporters in his Tunisian hometown of Msaken on Saturday, July 16, 2016.
Bouhlel also held a violent temper, according to his school records that show he had hit another student. School authorities disciplined him for six other incidents.
While the world awaits the release of more details about the attacker, his motive for the mass murder remains unclear. According to the French prime minister, Manuel Valla, in an interview with newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, July 17, 2016, Bouhlel was “radicalized quickly”, allowing ISIS to claim him as a “soldier” of their Caliphate.
