Witnessing death and destruction unfold in real time is traumatizing for anyone, but it’s especially difficult on children.
After a truck driver plowed through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, on Thursday night, killing 84 and wounding more than 200, one young girl attempted to make sense of what she saw by putting pen to paper.
Journalist Florent Pfeiffer, who works for French TV station iTélé, photographed a nine-year-old girl holding the drawing she made of what happened. He told The Huffington Post he was unable to get her name due to the chaos at the scene.
A large truck, with one stick figure in the driver’s seat, sits in the center of the drawing. Another stick figure appears to be on the ground next to the vehicle. Two other figures, one of whom appears to be wearing a police hat, are pointing guns at the truck driver.
Several other stick figures, including one pushing a stroller, depict the scores of people who ran for their lives once the rampage began. The girl drew an arrow pointing to the words “restaurant basement,” to indicate that people hid wherever they could.
Another drawing that Pfeiffer snapped photos of shows endless stick figures walking along a road, as the truck plows forward.
Pfeiffer happened to chat briefly with the girl as she was coming out of the victim welcome center with her family in Nice on Friday, he told The HuffPost. She and her uncle had gone to the Promenade des Anglais to watch the fireworks.
After seeing gunfire and dead bodies, she told Pfeiffer that drawing helped her feel better.
On Friday, authorities identified the driver as Mohamed Lahouajej Bouhlel, 31.
A Tunisian man living in Nice, he drove the 19-ton truck into the crowds for more than a mile, before accelerating and zigzagging to crush more people as they tried flee.
More than 200 people are injured as of Friday. Fifty-two are in critical condition, including 25 on life support.
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