French train heroes tell about beating up terrorist

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.

Top French officials, President Barack Obama and people in the suburbs of Sacramento where the three men grew up, have praised their swift action, foiling a plot that could have ended in bloodshed on the packed train.

Skarlatos is a National Guard specialist who recently served in Afghanistan, and Stone is an airman first class in the Air Force.

Even after he was injured, Mr Stone helped to save the life of a passenger who was squirting blood from his neck after being hit by a bullet. Hollande spoke with them by phone and “thanked them for their exceptional courage and their efficiency to prevent a tragedy”, according to a statement from his office.

The family of Mark Moogalian, an American academic, disclosed his role in tackling Ayoub El-Khazzani aboard the Paris-bound train on Friday.

“We heard a gunshot, and we heard glass breaking behind us, and saw a train employee sprint past us down the aisle”, Sadler said.

The gunman overcame the train passenger, but was soon met by Anthony Sadler’s friend, who is enlisted in the Marines, the father said.

“The French passenger courageously attempted to overpower him before the aggressor shot the rifle several times”, Cazeneuve said.

That’s when Chris Norman, the Briton seated in auto 13, saw the suspect run through the carriage. “Then I was flushed with pride and I still am”, said Emanuel. “There was a French man, I think a train driver, who came to take the left”. They all did, and I’m just very, very proud of him. He said he was first stunned and relieved his son was not hurt or killed.

Sadler said he and Norman worked together to tie the suspect down while Stone helped an injured passenger and Skarlatos gained control of the gun. “All three of us started punching” him, Stone said. “In the process, Spencer gets slashed multiple times by the box cutter, and Alek takes the AK away”.

Spencer had injuries in the head and neck, and nearly had his thumb cut off, according to Peter Skarlatos. Stone and Sadler also beat the suspect until he was unconscious.

The attacker, Norman said, “put up quite a bit of a fight”.

Spencer Stone, the third of the group of American tourists, leaves a French hospital. Arras is about 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris. The suspect is being interrogated as part of a detention that can last up to 96 hours. French, Spanish and Belgian law enforcement agencies appeared to have suffered a serious communications breakdown over the threat posed by El-Khazzani.

There are strong indications the suspected gunman traveled from Europe to Turkey between May and July, probably to try to join up with ISIS in Syria, a senior European counterterrorism official told CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank on Saturday.

The gunman fired on them with a handgun, the official said.

A second security source said French intelligence knew the suspect.

The train was heading to Paris when the attack occurred.