Men with ties to California, Oregon stop attack in Europe

In this image made from TV, Anthony Sadler, a senior at Sacramento…

Sadler’s father told KCRA that he was “stunned” and “relieved” to hear his son was safe.

“As he was cocking it to shoot it, Alek just yells, ‘Spencer, go!’ And Spencer runs down the aisle”, Sadler said.

Mr Stone was said to be “in good spirits” and “doing great” as he recovers in hospital.

“So Spencer, he had a couple of cuts in the back of his neck, and his thumb was almost cut off, actually probably saved the life of the other guy as well”.

“He might even meet the president of France before he leaves, so I’m still wrapping my head around that”, he said, laughing.

The gunman slashed Stone, a U.S. Airman, several times with a box cutter. “At that point I showed up and grabbed the gun from him and basically started beating him in the head until he fell unconscious”, said Skarlatos. Now he’s an actual hero.

The US airman who was stabbed as he disarmed a terrorist on a French train has left hospital.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the gunman’s identity had not been confirmed but that if he was telling the truth to his interrogators, he was a 26-year-old of Moroccan national with connections to Islamist militants.

Officials called three Americans and a British man heroes for their stopping the attack shortly after it started Friday evening.

Bullets sounded and the Americans moved in.

Norman, who said he was sitting at the front of the auto, saw a train employee dash past. He was released at day’s end.

“The three of us beat up the guy”, Anthony said. “I notice a man had his throat cut at which (time) Spencer begins to apply pressure to the neck wound before he bled out”. “Actions like this clearly illustrate the courage and commitment our young men and women have all the time, whether they are on duty or on leave”, Breedlove said in a statement.

The father said the thought of his son being a hero is still “sinking in” for the entire family.

The parents of Alek Skarlatos are interviewed by a Sacramento television station. He was transferred Saturday morning to anti-terror police headquarters outside Paris and can be held for up to 96 hours. “UK stands beside France against all terrorist acts”. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be identified by name. “We will remain in close contact with French authorities as the investigation proceeds”. The French transmitted this information to Spain, which advised on May 21 that he no longer lived there but in Belgium.

“We didn’t know if the gun wasn’t working or anything like that”. Belgium also announced it was imposing stricter security on trains.

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. 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.

A British consultant has described how he helped three young Americans overpower a gunman on a train in France. He waved with his right hand to well-wishers and news media.

He told reporters: “My first reaction was to sit down and hide”.

Mr Stone and Mr Skarlatos, a member of the US National Guard, from Oregon, subdued the man as he held an automatic weapon, before Mr Sadler and Mr Norman joined them to help.

Skarlatos’ step-mother Karen Skarlatos tells the AP from Oregon that Skarlatos finished a deployment in Afghanistan in July and was home in the U.S. for about 10 days before taking a vacation to Europe.

French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade injured his finger, cutting it to the bone while activating the train’s emergency alarm, he told Paris Match magazine.

He said his instincts kicked in.