The U.S State Department confirmed Friday morning that two Americans were killed in Thursday’s attack on a crowd during a Bastille Day parade in Nice, France.
Multiple reports – both locally and nationally – indicate those two people were Sean Copeland and his 11-year-old son, Brodie, from Lakeway. Family representatives confirmed their deaths to the Austin American-Statesman, but the State Department has not yet officially confirmed the names of the two victims.
Copeland worked for Lexmark’s Kapow Software Division where he was Vice President for North & South America.
The two were reportedly killed in the attack, during which a truck was driven at high speed into a crowd, killing at least 84 people. 18 remain in critical condition.
Secretary of State John Kerry released a statement saying “the United States will continue to stand firmly with the French people during this time of tragedy.”
Multiple members of the Copeland's family and the community have taken to social media to mourn the loss of the father and son.
#PrayForNice #PrayersForFrance pic.twitter.com/NEh2N4yRT2
— heather copeland (@_hcopeland) July 15, 2016
A GoFundMe has been started to pay for the expenses related to the deaths of Sean and Brodie. Since it launched this morning at around 9 a.m. it's raised nearly $4,000.
This is a developing story and we'll update this post as more details become available.