The high-speed train was traveling from Amsterdam to Paris and was in Belgium at the time of the shooting.
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Skarlatos and another friend, Anthony Sadler, a college student from California, quickly followed, dog piling on the attacker, who police would later identify as a 26-year-old of Moroccan descent.
Passengers helped apprehend a suspect armed with an automatic firearm and a bladed weapon who injured three people on a high-speed train in northern France, authorities for the government and the railway company said Friday.
“Spencer, who has some paramedics training, just clogged up his neck so he wouldn’t die”.
The train was speeding through Belgium when the man emerged from the train bathroom, shirtless with a rifle – possibly an AK 47 – slung over his shoulder, the Americans said.
“I got pretty emotional and I just said ‘I’m proud of you, and I’m thankful and grateful and happy that you’re safe”, he said.
“In the aftermath, we saw that a man’s throat had been split and he was bleeding profusely”, Mr Sadler said. The other three who helped subdue the gunman were awarded medals of honor by a local mayor. She said the attacker, who also had a knife, cut Stone, but that his injuries were not considered life-threatening.
“As he was cocking it to shoot it, Alek just yells, ‘Spencer, go!’ And Spencer runs down the aisle”, Sadler said.
‘Spencer would have been dead for sure, because he was the first one up. Skarlatos told Reuters that “We called him, he’s doing great”. Spencer was reportedly among those sent to the hospital with injuries, but is expected to recover.
Authorities arrested the suspected gunman once the train stopped in the French town of Arras, 115 miles north of Paris, officials have said.
The French interior minister said the French anti-terrorism prosecutor was investigating the incident and that the gunman’s motives were not known.
U.S. President Barack Obama also praised the good samaritans, according to a White House statement.
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Norman said if Stone wasn’t quick to respond there could have been even more bloodshed on the train heading from Amsterdam to Paris. “It could have been a real carnage, there’s no question about that”, he added.
