Hundreds of students are expected to gather at a vigil for a UC Berkeley student who was one of 84 killed in Thursday’s terror attack in Nice.
Organized by the Associated Students of the University of California, the vigil for Nicolas Leslie, 20, will be held at 4:30 p.m. at Sproul Plaza on the campus.
“It is with a heavy heart I share with you all that unfortunately we have lost another fellow Bear to senseless violence,” the organization’s president, William Morrow, said on Facebook in announcing the vigil.
Leslie is the second student to be killed overseas in terror attacks in less than a month. Sophomore Tarishi Jain, who was studying abroad, was one of 20 hostages killed July 1 during a standoff at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Bangladesh.
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Thousands gather on Monday on the Jardin Albert and the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to observe a minute of silence for victims of the deadly attack.
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The crowd applauds police officers and rescue teams after a minute of silence on the famed Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
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Ghassan Zaour watches people gathered around a makeshift memorial after observing a minute of silence to honor the victims of deadly attack on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
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People observe a minute of silence on the famed Promenade des Anglais in Nice, to honor the victims of the attack.
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A man scans notices of people missing after a man drove a truck into a packed crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice.
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A woman reacts after learning of the death of a relative at a Nice hospital.
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A woman walks alone on a deserted beach beside the Promenade des Anglais on July 6, 2016, in Nice, where the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations.
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People hug outside Pasteur Hospital in Nice after the July 14 truck attack that killed 84 people.
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The Eiffel Tower in Paris is illuminated in the colors of the French flag in solidarity with the victims of the terror attack in Nice.
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A woman sits under French flags lowered at half-mast in Nice, following the deadly Bastille Day attacks.
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Police secure the area where a truck drove into a crowd during Bastille Day celebrations, killing scores of people in Nice, France.
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A forensic expert examines dead bodies covered with a blue sheet on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in Nice, a day after a gunman smashed a truck into a crowd of revellers celebrating Bastille Day.
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People react near the scene where a truck drove through revelers in Nice, France.
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Crime scene investigators work on the Promenade des Anglais after the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France.
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People gather in front of the memorial set on the Promenade des Anglais where the truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France.
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A man holding the French national flag stands near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice, France.
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Flowers placed near the site of the deadly attack on the Promenade des Anglais seafront in the French Riviera city of Nice.
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Floral tributes are placed near the site of the truck attack in the French resort city of Nice.
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Riot police officers and gendarmes are seen Friday outside the Pasteur Hospital in Nice, France.
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Police researchers inspect the cab of the truck that crashed into Bastille Day revelers in Nice, France.
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Roses are attached to a barrier near the scene of the truck attack in Nice.
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An image grab from the Twitter account of harp_detectives shows people fleeing the scene of the truck attack Thursday in Nice, France.
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An image grab from the Instagram account of GA Morrow shows people fleeing the scene of the truck attack in Nice, France.
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The truck that plowed through Bastille Day revelers, its windshield riddled with bullets, is examined by forensics officers in Nice, France.
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Emergency workers tend to a woman injured in the truck attack.
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Soldiers, police officers and firefighters walk amid bodies covered with blue sheets along the Nice seafront.
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A body lies on the ground after the Nice attack.
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People gather near the scene of the attack.
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Police officers and rescue workers stand near a truck that plowed into a crowd of people leaving a fireworks display in the French Riviera town of Nice on Bastille Day. Dozens of revelers were killed.
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Ambulances line up near the scene of the attack.
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A soldier stands guard alongside police officers near the site of the truck attack.
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Residents walk with their hands up as police conduct checks.
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Police officers inspect a vehicle after the truck attack in Nice.
(Valery Hache / AFP/Getty Images) Leslie was also studying abroad through a campus program and had gone to the city’s promenade to watch the Bastille Day celebration when a truck raced through the packed crowd, killing 84 and injuring more than 200.
Driven by 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian man living in Nice, the 20-ton truck plowed through the crowd gathered on the city’s promenade for the Bastille Day celebration. The truck traveled nearly a mile, crushing people along the way, before police were able to shoot and kill Bouhlel.
UC Berkeley students Vladyslav Kostiuk, 23, Daryus Medora, 21, and Diane Huang, 20, were injured in the attack. Huang suffered a broken foot and Kostiuk had a broken leg. Both were released from hospitals. Medora remains hospitalized with a broken leg.
Immediately after the attack, Leslie, a junior, was reported missing, prompting a frantic search by the university, local officials and family. Leslie’s mother, who is Italian, dispatched family and friends in Europe to check hospitals to try to find her son, according to a family friend.
French officials confirmed his death on Sunday, according to a statement released by the university.
“This is tragic, devastating news,” UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said Sunday. “All of us in the UC Berkeley family — both here on campus, and around the world — are heartbroken to learn that another promising young student has been lost to senseless violence.”
Leslie’s Facebook page said he was from Milan, Italy, and grew up in Del Mar, where he attended Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, before heading to Berkeley. The environmental studies major planned to begin his studies at the Haas School of Business in the fall, the university said.
“Nick was a very involved student in Berkeley through his fraternity, his club involvement, and his academic work trying to make a more environmentally sustainable world,” Morrow said.
Leslie was an only child who was “adored by everyone” who knew him, said a family friend. The friend asked to be identified only as Antonella, to protect her privacy as well as the family’s. Antonella described him as “a wonderful, caring young adult, extremely motivated.”
Leslie and the other three students were among 85 Berkeley students participating in a summer entrepreneurship program in Nice.
Leslie’s advisor in the university’s College of Natural Resources told campus officials that “he was very excited about the upcoming year.”
About 60 students remain in Nice, where counselors were sent to speak with those grieving.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
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