Massacre on train in France foiled by swift and brave action by Americans and a Brit.

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Two of them were military on holiday.

French train attack: Police interrogating gunman who opened fire on Paris-Amsterdam train

Updated about 2 hours agoSat 22 Aug 2015, 11:11pm
Photo: French police inspect gun cartridges and a backpack on a train platform after the shooting. (Reuters: Pascal Rossignol)

French investigators are interrogating a man who opened fire on passengers on a train between Amsterdam and Paris before being overpowered by three young Americans.

The suspect is thought to be a 26-year-old of Moroccan origin who had lived in Spain, sources close to the investigation said.
He was known to the French authorities after being flagged as a potential jihadist by Spanish intelligence services.

Spanish daily El Pais said he moved to France last year and had visited Syria. Armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter, the man opened fire on board the TGV train just after it crossed from Belgium into France on Friday evening (local time).
But the attack was quickly stopped when a group of young Americans on holiday — two of them off-duty soldiers — charged the gunman and overpowered him.

"I looked back and saw a guy enter with a Kalashnikov. My friends and I got down and then I said, 'Let's get him'," Alek Skarlatos, a 22-year-old member of the National Guard in Oregon, told reporters.

Spencer Stone, a US Air Force serviceman, reached the gunman first and was slashed in the neck and hand 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 Mr Skarlatos, who recently returned from service in Afghanistan.

The third American, student Anthony Sadler, said the attacker "didn't stand a chance".

"As soon as we saw him, we all ran back there. It all happened really fast," Mr Sadler said.

"He didn't say anything. He was just telling us to give back his gun. 'Give me back my gun! Give me back my gun!' But we just carried on beating him up and immobilised him and that was it."

Mr Stone was taken to hospital along with another unnamed American passenger, who was hit in the shoulder with a bullet.

Group showed great bravery, French interior minister says

Photo: (L-R) Anthony Sadler, Aleck Sharlatos and Chris Norman pose with medals they received for their bravery. (Reuters: Pascal Rossignol)


Mobile phone footage from inside the train and played on several TV stations shows the suspect, a skinny man wearing white trousers and no shirt, flattened on the floor of the train with his hands and feet tied behind his back.

A Kalashnikov is seen leaning against a seat and blood is visible on a window. US president Barack Obama praised the young men, saying "it is clear that their heroic actions may have prevented a far worse tragedy".

French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the group showed "great bravery". "Without their cool-headed actions we could have been faced with a terrible incident," he said.

The motives for the shooting were not immediately known, although French prosecutors said counter-terrorism investigators had taken over the probe.
France has been on high alert since Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in January, killing 17 people in Paris.

The man began shooting at 5:50pm on Friday (1:50am AEST), train operator Thalys said. He was arrested 10 minutes later when the train, with 554 passengers on board, stopped at Arras station in northern France, a railway spokesman said.

One of the passengers, who asked to be identified only as Damien, 35, said he had heard the gunman shooting but initially thought the sound came from a toy.

"The man stopped between two carriages, fired and it made a click-click-click sound, not at all like in the films," he said, still clearly shocked.
The gunman had probably boarded the train in Brussels, a police source said.
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The fourth man, a Briton, Chris Norman, had no military training but felt compelled to act. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34027443
 

Bravo to the two US military men and the others that helped bring this terrorist scum down. Glad to see they're fairly safe, early reports had one of them wounded/shot.

And here we go again. Another terrorist on a watch list or under surveillance.

http://news.yahoo.com/france-train-gunman-had-under-surveillance-source-094226958.html

I don't know what to think: Are they letting these guys go to see where it leads or are they over supplying/under monitoring them with weapons to get a slam dunk legal case/leverage.

Why spy or collect mountains of data if one doesn't know what or want to do anything with it. Because I can sure as heck tell them what to do with it.
 
Yes, the older man expected to die anyway but decided he didn't want to be shot sitting in his seat in a corner.

The second military man was cut in the arm and neck when he tackled the gunman but even so, he was the one who attended to a passenger who had been shot, saving his life with his first aid.

The four men are real men and true heroes in my eyes. My teeth are set on edge when the media refers to athletes as heroes. It demeans the valour of the real thing.
 
...................let's not forget the French actor who badly cut his hand when breaking the glass to sound the alarm.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
Yes, the older man expected to die anyway but decided he didn't want to be shot sitting in his seat in a corner.

The second military man was cut in the arm and neck when he tackled the gunman but even so, he was the one who attended to a passenger who had been shot, saving his life with his first aid.

The four men are real men and true heroes in my eyes. My teeth are set on edge when the media refers to athletes as heroes. It demeans the valour of the real thing.
Click to expand...

Before I say anything else, like everyone else here, I have nothing but respect for the guys who brought that killer down! They are heroes!

I'm with you on that DW. I think heroes are people who act even in the face of danger, not someone who worked hard to achieve some sort of credentials (as in best golfer, best gymnast, guy who ran faster than anyone else in his sport.....) It seems to me that there is a huge difference. I wouldn't even credit someone who was an innocent victim of a crime of any sort as a hero. And I'm sure I'll offend someone here, but for one easily remembered example, the people who died when the Towers came down, were not heroes. The firemen who ran into that building (some of whom then died) were heroes. Civilians who ran into the building initially to help were heroes. But the rest of them were victims of a terrible crime. Calling everyone who does anything out of the normal course of an average persons day, a hero, is simply the rest of us getting caught up in emotionalism which like you say, demeans the true nature of the real act of valour.
 
Seems to me Lara, that most of us focus far too much on 1. the 'perp' 2. the victims and then throw a little bit of energy in the direction of the 'helpers' (maybe).
 

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