Two members of the U.S. military rushed a gunman who opened fire aboard a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris Friday afternoon, thwarting what could have been a much more serious attack. “In the process Spencer gets slashed multiple times by the box cutter, and Alek takes the AK away”.
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“The three of us beat up the guy”.
The man, who spoke English with an American accent, was very calm, despite all the blood, Da Silva said.
One of the injured is a member of the U.S. military, a Defense Department official said. The Marine’s injuries were “not life threatening”, the Pentagon told CNN in a statement.
Police union official Slimane Hamzi said the 26-year-old man was armed with a kalashnikov and had said he was of Moroccan origin. They overpowered the man so that he could be apprehended. “If anyone would have gotten shot it would have been Spencer for sure”. They responded by stopping him from entering the main train aisle. At that point the suspected terrorist went into the train’s lavatory, apparently not for its intended use, however, but for nefarious purposes as the Marines heard through the door the sound of a weapon being prepared for use. The paper reported that the men were wounded in the fray, one by gunfire and one by a knife the gunman was carrying.
The French prosecutor’s office said its anti-terrorist section had taken over the investigation into the incident, “in view of the weaponry used, the way it happened and the context”.
Calling the attack “an attack of barbaric violence”, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Paris will investigate.
French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade was on board the train and injured when breaking a window to reach an alarm, according to local reports.
Another passenger was quoted as hearing “two gunshots”. France is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe.
She described lying on the floor herself and taking photos with her phone.
“I express my solidarity with the wounded from the attack on the train from Amsterdam to Paris”, French president Francois Hollande said.
Between 150 and 200 passengers and their luggage were left waiting at Arras station, some of them from the Thalys train, along with a large number of police and rescue workers. The shooting started when the train was passing through Belgium.
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France’s interior ministry confirmed Friday that three people were injured aboard the high-speed train.
