Philippe Lorthiois, an official with the Alliance police union, said the attacker did not fire his automatic weapon but wounded one man with a handgun and the other with a blade of some kind.
Advertisement
Mr Skarlatos had only recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan. Experts have long said the trains are a potential target for attacks.
Skarlatos heard gunfire and breaking glass, and sensed something was wrong. “Just like that, like it was no big deal”, said the elder Skarlatos, 65. You can see a rifle he was carrying and one of the American men who brought him down. Then he added, “He inspires me”. “And he jumped up, and I followed behind him by about three seconds”. El-Khazzani began an attack on the train Friday evening before several passengers overpowered and restrained him.
It’ll be hard to top his first trip to Europe and his final year in college. My thought was, ‘I’m probably going to die anyway so, let’s go.
In an interview with Paris Match magazine Mr Anglade said train staff entered a private cabin and locked it when they heard gunshots, leaving the passengers alone. Sadler said when they saw Spencer rush in, he and Skarlatos had to help. “I ducked down in my seat”. After the man was taken down, Skarlatos searched for other suspects while Norman helped tie up the attacker. “It was really nothing more than that”, he said. We ended up by tying him up, then during the process the guy pulled out a cutter and starting cutting Spencer.
“I thought it was the end, that we would die”, he said.
“It could have been a real carnage and there’s no question about that”, he said.
I wrote yesterday about the U.S. servicemen who foiled a terrorist attack by a Moroccan Muslim who had been trained in Syria, aboard a Paris to Amsterdam train.
Spencer Stone, 22, gave cameras a wave, with his left arm in a sling, as he walked out of a French hospital.
Stone’s traveling companions say he intervened to immobilize the suspect, and the gunman stabbed Stone with a box-cutter.
Stone wound up slashed in the neck and hand, but the injuries were not considered life threatening.
As well as Stone, who received cuts to his neck and hand, another American passenger was shot in the shoulder. The gun was then fired and the two Americans launched their attack. Authorities said casualties were hospitalized in Arras and Lille. The French interior minister confirmed the suspect has been on their radar since a tip from Spanish authorities. She says Skarlatos’ action “saved many lives and earned him the gratitude of the nation and the world”.
“That’s our friend. So once we saw him go, we had to go join him”, said Sadler.
“He’s in good spirits, he’s in disbelief it happened himself”, Sadler said.
In addition to the four men, a French national is credited with helping avert a massacre. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be identified by name. Three young Americans, one of whom suffered knife wounds, were among the passengers who stopped the gunman.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the three Americans heroes. “It could have been a real carnage”, said Chris Norman, a British businessman who helped restrain the suspect after he had been subdued.
Authorities said it’s clear the heroic actions of the three Americans prevented a complete tragedy.
Currently, the French anti-terrorism prosecutor is investigating the incident.
Advertisement
The suspect is in custody and undergoing interrogations as authorities try to determine his identity.
