One British man and three Americans have been hailed as heroes after overpowering a gunman on a high-speed train travelling between Amsterdam and Paris.
French investigators say 25-year-old Moroccan national Ayob El Khazzani boarded the train on Friday evening with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, an automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter.
According to The Telegraph, the alleged attacker prepared his main weapon, the Kalashnikov rifle, at the back of the train. There, a 51-year-old British professor, Mark Moogalian, spotted him and attempted to wrestle the weapon out of his hands.
During the tussle Moogalian managed to grab the rifle, however, his sister, who was also onboard, says El Khazzani drew a sidearm and shot the French-based professor in the neck.
American service members thwart attack on high-speed rail in France http://t.co/DiokBiFUtN pic.twitter.com/rAvzuR4oK2
— Beth Ponsot (@bponsot) August 22, 2015
Taking back his weapon, El Khazzani started making his way down the train aisle but was confronted by three US citizens, including two military personnel.
Alek Skarlatos, a 22-year-old National Guard in Oregon, said he has his friend ‘got down’ when they saw the gunman enter.
They then jointly decided to ‘get him’. Spencer Stone, a US Air Force serviceman, reached the gunman first and received a knife wound to the neck.
It gave Skarlatos and a third American, student Anthony Sadler, the opportunity to grab the gun from El Khazzani and hit him ‘until he fell unconscious’.
France train attack puts rail security in spotlight http://t.co/G9EFz41t9j pic.twitter.com/HTCQTZeys1
— FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) August 23, 2015
“As soon as we saw him, we all ran back there. It all happened really fast.”
Anthony Sadler
“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.”
Stone was taken to the hospital along with Moogalian.
French authorities say El Khazzani had been flagged by Spanish intelligence services as a potential jihadist.
