French-American who would ‘give anything’ new hero in attack

A 51-year-old Sorbonne professor, Armenian-American Mark Moogalian, has been identified by the UK’s the Telegraph daily as the first passenger to tackle gunman Ayoub El-Khazzani on August 21 aboard the Amsterdam-Paris train.

Moogalian was the first person to disarm the gunman before he was shot in the neck, according to a statement today from Moogalian’s family.

Investigators have yet to make a final determination on El Khazzani’s travel.

Another passenger – a French national who has not gone public – also tackled the gunman, and will be honored at a later date. “He saw that he had a gun and somehow got it away from him and took off running down the track to warn everybody else and that’s when he was shot”. “The moment that the gunshots occurred and I saw a man bloody like fall to the floor I thought to myself, I may die today”. “But I look at my husband through the seats at an angle and he looked straight at me and said, ‘I’m hit!’ …”

His father and brother would like to witness that honor.

He’ll receive his own Legion of Honor when he gets better, the French government has said. British passenger Chris Norman joined the scrum, too.

Mr Hollande presented Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman with the Legion d’honneur at the Elysee Palace.

Moogalian told his wife to “go” and then “rushed toward the gunman to remove… the Kalashnikov”, Risacher-Moogalian said. PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images Criminal and forensic investigators put on protective suits on a platform next to a Thalys train.

He had an AK-47 assault weapon with nine magazines of ammunition, a Luger pistol with extra ammo and a box cutter, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. Stone said he put the attacker in a chokehold, but the gunman kept pulling more weapons.

When the group finally had el-Khazzani subdued, Stone ran to help the wounded Moogalian.

“My husband told me that he had seen someone odd because he had entered the toilets with his suitcase and it lasted a long time”, Moogalian’s wife, Isabella Risacher-Moogalian, told Europe1 radio on Monday.

Four people were injured, with Moogalian being the last one still in the hospital, authorities said.

Back in the States, Everett Stone praised his brother.

The men, who foiled a suspected terror attack on a train have received France’s top honour from President Francois Hollande, according to BBC.

Numerous train’s passengers agreed.

“He should not be alive at all, and he saved every single person’s life on that train….” “My mom wanted to say, ‘thank you so much.’ She is very grateful they were on that train”.