Two men described by French media as vacationing U.S. Marines thwarted an armed attack aboard a high-speed train en route to Amsterdam from Paris, tackling and subduing the suspect after he opened fire with an automatic rifle.
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The Marines overpowered the suspect, who was placed under arrest when the train was rerouted to the town of Arras, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris. She said passengers remained “relatively calm”, and some showed no concern until police boarded the train. Both marines were reported to have been injured, one by gunfire, the other by a knife.
One of the two people injured in the attack was a US military member, the Pentagon confirmed, while CNN said that three American men – a member of the Air Force, an inactive National Guard member and a civilian – were the ones to prevent what might have been a massacre.
Fox News reports that 26-year-old Moroccan man “known to intelligence services” as a threat injured three at approximately 6 p.m. local time before the men, rumored to be Marines, subdued him until police arrived and arrested him.
A statement from French President Francois Hollande said the attack took place while the Thalys train was passing through Belgium.
A French Interior Ministry spokesman said investigators were working to identify the suspect and determine a motive.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the French anti-terrorism prosecutor was investigating the incident and that the gunman’s motives were not known.
“Everything is being done to shed light on this tragedy and obtain all the necessary information about what happened”, Hollande said.
A spokesman for the train company Thalys said: ‘The situation is under control, the travellers are safe. The French actor Jean-Hughe Anglade reportedly sustained minor injuries to his hand while raising alarm.
A young woman said on i-Tele that she was in the carriage next to the one which the gunman struck. One of the Marines was shot in the neck by the shooter and his life remains in very critical condition. The Paris prosecutor’s office said its anti-terrorist section has taken over the judicial investigation of the train attack.
Passengers spoke of hearing gunshots as the train was traveling through the countryside, and of seeing bloodied individuals rolling out into the grass when the train lurched to a stop during the shooting.
“They were looking for someone, people were scared”, he said.
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The French have been anxious about the potential for terror attacks since the January 7 assault on the offices of the satiric newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12, among them some of France’s most famous comic artists.
