Sunday, for the first time since Friday’s aboard a passenger train in Europe, the three Americans who helped take down the gunman spoke out about the incident and the impact that it has had on their lives. However, the suspect held in France has not been officially identified. One was seriously injured as they subdued the gunman.
Crime and forensic investigators stand on a platform next to a Thalys train of French national railway operator SNCF at the main train station in Arras, northern France, on August 21, 2015.
French counter-terrorism officials Saturday identified the man as a Moroccan linked to Islamic militants who was known to intelligence authorities in three countries.
Two people were hospitalized with serious injuries but their lives are not in danger, said Anthony Blondeau, spokesman for the city of Arras.
When Skarlatos and his friends tackled the gunman, Norman said he helped subdue him.
“I looked up, I saw a guy carrying an AK-47, or at least I assumed it was some kind of machine gun anyway”, he said.
“As he was cocking it to shoot it, Alek just yells, ‘Spencer, go!’ And Spencer runs down the aisle”, Sadler said.
Sadler, a student at Sacramento State University, further described how the men tackled the culprit, wrestled his AK-47 from him and beat him with it until he was unconscious.
“We ended up by tying him up, then during the process the guy actually pulled out a cutter and starting cutting Spencer”.
The three men had been on vacation, partly to celebrate Skarlatos’ return from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Norman, the British man, said his survival instincts just kicked in.
The weapons of the gunman were said to include a Kalashnikov, a knife, an automatic pistol and cartridges.
We are back now with those American heroes who took down a terrorist in France, unarmed, unafraid.
“The gunman by no means stated a phrase”, he added. France is still reeling from an attack in January on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which employees were gunned down by members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was charged with terrorism offenses, which he denies. I pay homage to their heroic courage and thank them.
The Belgian government has stepped up rail security after a gunman who boarded a Thalys train in Brussels was subdued by passengers on the Paris-bound service.
He said he “just stuck two of my fingers in his hole and found what I thought to be the artery, pushed down and the bleeding stopped”.
A third man – French actor Jean-Hughes Anglade – was also wounded and is said to have raised the alarm.
“He cut Spencer behind the neck, he almost cut his thumb off too”.
Anglade accused the train personnel on Saturday of having fled the scene of the struggle, abandoning the passengers and cowering in the engine auto. “We were incredibly lucky to have American soldiers with us”. The friends all appear to know one another from their time together in Sacramento, where Skarlatos also lived before he moved to Oregon.
Stone is stationed in the Azores and is from Carmichael, California, according to the stepmother of one of the Americans aboard.
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US student Anthony Sadler said: “I’m really proud of my friend, he acted so quickly and so bravely”. Some were proposing them for the Legion of Honor.
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