A UC Berkeley Student Died In The Nice Attack

One of the American students missing in the horrific July 14 terrorist attack in Nice, France, has been identified as a 20-year-old college student. Who was Nicolas Leslie?

Leslie, who went by Nick to his friends, was a student at University of California-Berkeley, but he was in Nice for a summer study-abroad program focused on entrepreneurship. He was one of four UC-Berkeley students who were in the celebratory crowd in the French seaside town for Bastille Day, the national holiday analogous to the Fourth of July in the United States.

Leslie hailed from Del Mar, California. Leslie was a junior in UC-Berkeley's College of Natural Resources, studying environmental science, according to the Daily Mail. He was attending a 15-day summer program called "Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Europe" as part of the European Innovation Academy along with 85 other students from UC-Berkeley.

Leslie was planning on starting at the Haas School of Business in the fall, according to a press release from UC-Berkeley. The school said that they were notified by the F.B.I. after their French counterparts alerted them that Leslie's remains had been positively identified.

Two of his classmates are still in the hospital being treated for their injuries, while a third has been discharged already.

Leslie is the second student from UC-Berkeley to die in a terrorist attack abroad this month. 18-year-old Tarishi Jain was one of several hostages killed by Islamic militants in Bangladesh's capital of Dhaka. She was a sophomore student and prospective economics major who was working on an e-commerce summer internship with Eastern Bank Limited, SFGate.com reported.

UC-Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks called news of Leslie's death "devastating," adding, "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." The Nice study abroad program was suspended for three days, and students were also given the option of returning home early in light of the tragedy.

A candlelight vigil was planned for Monday, July 18 at 4:30 PT at Sproul Plaza on the Berkeley campus, according to the statement from UC-Berkeley.