GUNMAN IDENTIFIED Suspect in train shooting linked to Islamic militants

Three Americans, a British passenger and a French passenger were involved in the action to wrestle the man to the ground and disarm him after he fired a weapon on the train, according to accounts from three of them and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

The 23-year-old waved to the waiting media and was driven off in a black auto with diplomatic licence plates.

Three American citizens, including two off-duty U.S. military servicemen, charged at the attacker and subdued him, while a British national helped restrain him.

Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler were traveling together when they heard shattering glass and saw people running, Skarlatos’ brother Peter said.

“There was no material proof or concrete evidence that allowed us to find him, to know exactly when he lived in Belgium”.

But with an arsenal, “he was there to do business”.

“He is dumbfounded by the terrorist motives attributed to his action”, said David, who described him as her client. Authorities said that French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, the star of Betty Blue and Nikita, was lightly wounded breaking glass to sound the alarm.

After being arrested in Arras on Friday night, the suspect was taken early Saturday to the headquarters of the antiterrorism police outside Paris, Mr. Cazeneuve said, and was being interrogated.

He had lived in Spain, France and most recently Belgium in the past year but it is not clear if he was ever put under surveillance. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Cazeneuve said Spanish authorities had flagged him to their French counterparts because he belonged to a radical Islamist movement. Both were later hospitalised but are said to be recovering well, with Stone due to be released later Saturday. However, the suspect held in France has not been officially identified.

“The president expressed his profound gratitude for the courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including U.S. service members, who selflessly subdued the attacker”, the official said.

Their bravery has also been praised by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron.

It is understood the 26-year-old emerged as a potential risk due to his links with two Islamists killed by Belgian police as they attempted to launch a terror attack on the day after the Charlie Hebdo massacre. In June, a lone attacker claiming allegiance to Islamic radicals beheaded his employer and set off an explosion at an American-owned factory in France, raising concerns about other scattered, hard-to-predict attacks.

Stone said his son, who is 6’2 and 220 pounds, probably took the gunman off guard when he ran toward the attacker instead of ducking for cover. “I’d rather die being active… than simply sit in the corner and be shot”.

“He had a magazine full. So, let’s go”, he said. After subduing the gunman, Stone, a trained paramedic, turned his attention to an injured passenger and tried to treat that person.

Skarlatos, 22, had returned from a deployment in Afghanistan in July, and Stone is stationed in the Azores, according to Skarlatos’ stepmother Karen Skarlatos.

Authorities are not yet calling the attack terrorism, but an anti-terrorism investigation is underway. He cut Spencer behind the neck, he almost cut his thumb off. We eventually got him under control. “And they did”, she told the Associated Press from Oregon.

The three young men are now being called heroes after they jumped into danger to stop what could have been a massacre.

Norman, who said he was sitting at the front of the auto , saw a train employee dash past. Anglade said he had felt certain he, his two children and family were doomed to death in the train.

However, before boarding the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris in Brussels on Friday, Ayoub el-Khazzani, 26, had been allowed to move freely around Europe – despite being known to at least four intelligence agencies.