Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Knifeman sent a selfie as he waited to kill
Nice church killer posed in new gear
DRESSED in new clothes, the Nice terrorist poses for a selfie he sent to his family in Tunisia hours before knifing three people to death.
Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, stood in front of a mirror in a shop and took the snap to show off the trainers, ripped blue jeans and red coat he had bought.
He wore the same gear when he attacked three churchgoers at Notre Dame basilica – beheading one of them.
Family members released several images to show how “normal” Aoussaoui behaved before the incident.
They show his journey across the Mediterranean to Italy and then France.
His older brother Yassin, 38, said: “He bought new clothes and a mobile phone in France with the money he had earned working by harvesting olives in Italy.
“He wanted to show us he was doing well. Brahim said he wanted to go to Europe to earn money to buy a car.”
Yassin added: “He made a lot of phone calls the night before the attack. He called us, the family and his friends, reassuring us that everything was fine. He said he had met an Arab man who was helping him to get on his feet in France.”
Anti-terror police have arrested six people in connection with the attack.
They are trying to establish whether they helped Aouissaoui, who was shot and wounded by police and detained.
The blood of victim Simone Baretto, 44, Silva was still visible near tributes outside the church yesterday.
Aoussaoui stabbed the mum of three, beheaded Nadine Devillers, 60, and slit the throat of church warden Vincent Loques, 54, on Thursday morning.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he “obviously” went to France to kill.
He said: “He had only been present on the national territory for a few hours. How else to explain why he armed himself with several knives.”