Three Americans Called Heroes After Overseas Train Attack

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Spanish authorities had advised French intelligence about him because he belongs to the “radical Islamist movement”.

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office has also opened an investigation into the incident on the grounds that the suspect had boarded the train in Brussels, said spokesman Eric Van der Sypt.

But French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, who was slightly injured while pulling the train alarm, criticised the train’s staff for locking themselves in the locomotive leaving the passengers to fend for themselves.

“He leaves here a young man on an excursion to broaden his world view and to have fun with his buddies and he comes back a France’s national hero”, Tony Sadler told Sacramento TV station KCR.

Two U.S. servicemen, one in the Air Force, another who recently served in Afghanistan in the National Guard, and their friend who is a student, tackled and disarmed the gunman with the help of a Briton, winning trans-Atlantic kudos.

The man had a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol, ammunition and a box cutter in his luggage, one police source told AFP. The windows around them are blood-stained. “But they were able to subdue him while the train was still moving”.

‘He said he was a medic and he’s the one who went to stop the man’s bleeding, ‘ said Norman. He was the first to jump on him. The guy took out a boxcutter and began slicing Spencer.

“There’s no doubt in my mind they were equipped and prepared for this by God.”

“He told me that they were on a train on their way to Paris and an armed gunman came onto the train, came out of the bathroom with an AK-47 and another weapon”, the father said.

What the trio did next saved the lives of many passengers and on Saturday some of them spoke out about what happened. “The (attacker) had 250 rounds of ammunition on him”.

Stone was touring Europe with two friends he grew up with in California.

French officials said the suspect had lived in the southern Spanish city of Algeciras, frequenting a mosque which is under surveillance there.

“We heard the guys yelling in English, he’s gonna shoot, he’s got a Kalashnikov!” We were in the last vehicle.

“I condemn the terrorist attack on the Thalys (train) and express my sympathy to the victims”, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter of the incident, which occurred while the train was in Belgium.

Cazeneuve said the Americans “were particularly courageous and showed great bravery in very hard circumstances”, and that “without their sangfroid we could have been confronted with a awful drama”.

President Obama called the men on Saturday, and French President Francoise Hollande is scheduled to meet with the men, according to BBC.

Alek’s stepmother Karen Skarlatos broke down on the phone with the Daily Beast, apologizing and saying she and her husband had not slept since hearing the news.

The motives behind the train attack remain unknown.

The father said the thought of his son being a hero is still “sinking in” for the entire family. Eskel said his nephew’s height of at least 6 feet 2 inches and Jujitsu martial art and football background probably helped him. We are touched beyond belief at the outpouring of love and concern. “He went unconscious, I think”.

“When there’s nothing to justify an arrest, there comes a time when you move on to other individuals”, said Sébastien Pietrasanta, a Socialist lawmaker who drafted France’s latest anti-terror legislation. Spencer just ran anyway and if anyone had gotten shot, it would have been Spencer and we’re just very lucky that nobody got killed.