His family was shocked when they discovered that Mohamed Bu Helal, whom they had never seen fast or pray, was the man sitting behind the truck that deliberately ran over and killed 84 people in Nice, France on July 14 – ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.

“How could my brother do such a thing?” wondered Jaber, Mohamed’s brother.

“We lead an ordinary life like all other Tunisian people and know nothing about terrorism or extremism, except what we’ve heard from the media,” said his sister, Rihab.

His family was shocked when they discovered that Mohamed Bu Helal, whom they had never seen fast or pray, was the man sitting behind the truck that deliberately ran over and killed 84 people in Nice, France on July 14 – ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.

“How could my brother do such a thing?” wondered Jaber, Mohamed’s brother.

“We lead an ordinary life like all other Tunisian people and know nothing about terrorism or extremism, except what we’ve heard from the media,” said his sister, Rihab.

While his family finds it hard to believe, French security investigations confirm that Mohamed joined extremism a while before the attack and he was addicted to videos depicting killing and violent sex.

“All that he posted on social media was funny and entertaining videos,” says Jaber. However, analysis of CCTV proved that Mohamed planned his attack well, having checked the street beforehand. Two days later, ISIS claimed responsibility for Mohamed’s actions, describing him as “one of its soldiers who fulfilled his duty.”  

A life of seclusion

His family and authorities are still trying to understand what made this 30-something man, with three children and lived in France, perform such an extremist act?

Mohamed is the eldest son of the Hweij family who lives in the Masaken area (south of Tunis). When he was born, his family was happy and his father promised to make of him a good man. “My father did all he can to make Mohamed a role model for his brothers,” said Jaber recalling distant memories about his brother with whom he was always in touch. Since his early childhood, Mohamed was an introvert and did not have many friends. He preferred seclusion and spent his spare time working with his father in keeping cows, Jaber said.

His family was confident that Mohamed was on the right track since he did not have “the wrong friends” and was not a troublemaker. He continued to help his father and was successful in his studies. “He was not that sociable and did not have friends. That might be due to his father’s strictness, who kept a close eye on him, fearing that his son might go astray,” says Waleed, a family’s neighbor.

A turning point

The first turning point in his life was when he became a teenager.

One day in 2004, his father Munzer Bu Helal took his son to psychiatrist Shamseddin Hammoudeh to treat his son after his behavior became a source of worry. “He wanted me to see him after he became unable to control his son’s violent behavior and hysteria,” said his Dr. Hammoudeh.

When Hammoudeh first examined Bu Helal, he noticed that he suffered from communication difficulties and his behavior was violent. He prescribed him some tranquilizers on his first visit, something he only did very rarely with teenagers like Mohamed.

“Mohamed had acute hysterical fits during which he smashed everything he came across. He even berated his parents and imprisoned them in his room before he calmed down,” he added.

In 2007, his family was relived to hear the news that he wanted to marry his cousin who was based in France, believing that traveling abroad would contribute to treating Mohamed’s situation, which was deteriorating. 

He got married and travelled to Nice. He did not get in touch with his family except on rare occasions. “He only came to visit us in 2012 to attend his sister’s wedding,” said his sister, Rabab.

According to the records of the border authorities in the Tunisian Ministry of Interior, Mohamed did not return to Tunisia for four years. “We rarely saw him and he went neither to cafes nor to mosques. Even during his last visit, he did not go out much and only left home on very few occasions,” said Walid, his neighbor.

In France, he did not have financial problems as he worked as a truck driver to deliver goods. He had three children and he had a passion for salsa dancing.

Some salsa female dancers who knew him said that Mohamed loved dancing and tried to attract them via the internet and used nicknames to have affairs with them. 

Some French newspapers have reported that Mohamed was a homosexual and had an affair with a 73-year-old man.

Failed marriage

His relationship with his wife eventually deteriorated and he and his wife separated. “He did not tell us the causes of their problems but our relatives told us that he beat his wife,” said Jaber.

In the last phone call to his brother, Jaber said that Mohamed was planning to return to Tunisia two days before the attack to attend the circumcision ceremony of his son, saying he was always joking with him on the phone.

“On that day, his voice was normal and I did not notice any difference,” says Jaber who recalled that his brother sent him a selfie standing beside the truck amid the celebrations in Nice. “He was normal,” his brother said.

His sister also confirmed that Mohamed resumed contacting his family regularly and did not show any changes weeks before carrying out the attack.

French authorities are currently working on revealing the connections between Mohamed and ISIS. 

It is worth mentioning that French newspapers reported investigators saying that days before carrying out the attack, Mohamed withdrew about 100,000 euros which he might have sent to his family in Tunisia. His family admitted it at first but later denied it.