Three Americans Stop Potential Massacre On European Train

The shooting underlines the difficulties faced by intelligence services in tracking an unprecedented number of suspected extremists.

A French passenger tried to disarm Khazzani – described as “small, slim, not very strong” – but he got away and fired at least one shot, wounding a Franco-American traveller in his 50s. And then I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with the pistol or rifle, I can’t really remember.

Spencer Stone, an airman first class with the U.S. Air Force from Carmichael, California, is credited with tackling the suspected gunman before attending to a wounded passenger who was bleeding profusely. “Give me back my gun!’ But we just carried on beating him up and immobilised him and that was it”.

Fellow friend Anthony Sadler and British passenger Chris Norman pinned the attacker down and stripped him of his weapons.

Norman believes the suspects gun may have jammed during the attack, giving them more time to act and prevent a tragedy.

Narrating the incident to CNN, Anthony Sadler said, ‘My friend Alek (Skarlatos) yells, ‘Get him, ‘ so my friend Spencer (Stone) immediately gets up to charge the guy, followed by Alek, then myself.

“He’s always been a hero to me”. He says the man kept pulling weapons out of his bag, and “seemed like he was ready to fight to the end”.

Stone, who suffered cuts in his neck and thumb, helped the man who was shot in the shoulder during the attack.

Stone remained hospitalized Saturday with non-life-threatening injuries.

PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images Police work on a platform next to a Thalys train of French national railway operator SNCF at the main train station in Arras, northern France. Train company managers have denied the claim.

The White House said President Obama phoned the men Saturday to commend them.

Questions have focused, however, on the attacker and alleged links to jihadists in Syria.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that Spanish authorities advised French intelligence about the suspect in February 2014 “because of his connections to the radical Islamist movement”.

The identify of El Khazzani’s was established through DNA analysis and matches the DNA records Spanish authorities had on file, according to French media.

Security is now expected to be tightened on worldwide train services in mainland Europe.

The three spoke at a news conference Sunday at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris.

France has been the site of several lone-wolf terror attacks this year, including the killing of 17 people in Paris in attacks on a satiric magazine and a kosher store.

In France, all three men were decorated with an honor by the city of Arras, where the train pulled to a stop after the episide, and they will be meeting soon with French President Francois Hollande.