Carmichael Man Credited With Subduing Armed Suspect on French Train

Three Americans are being called heroes for stopping an armed man on board a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris.

The men, two U.S. Servicemen and a student along with the help of a Briton tackled the gunman, a man in his mid-20s with ties to radical Islam, the AP reports.

The man was identified by French authorities as a 26-year-old Moroccan man. Spanish authorities had reported him to French intelligence in Feb. 2014.

A French passenger on the train was the first to encounter the gunman as he tried to enter the bathroom, French authorities said. When he tried to overpower the attacker, a gun went off, injuring a French-American passenger on the train.

Spencer Stone, an Air Force man from Carmichael along with Anthony Sadler, a senior at Sacramento State University and Alek Skarlatos, a National Guardsman from Roseburg, Oregon saw a train employee run down the aisle followed by a man with an automatic rife.

Sadler told the AP, Stone tackled the man, at which point he was attacked with a box cutter. Sadler and Skarlatos then reportedly jumped in and the three beat the man till he was unconscious. A fourth man on the train, a Briton, also helped the three subdue the gunman.

Stone was treated for non-life threatening injuries he sustained after he was attacked. The passenger injured on the train was also transported to the hospital.

The three men spoke at the U.S. Embassy in France along with U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco Jane Hartley on Sunday. They recounted the episode where Stone said the suspect seemed ready to fight to the death but so were him and his friends.

The three boyhood friends were on a tour of Europe at the time of the attack.

All three Americans and the Briton were given medals for their bravery by authorities in the French town of Arras, the BBC reports. The train was diverted there following the attack and is where the suspect was taken into custody.

That was only the start for the men as their actions received recognition from officials across the globe.

President Obama phoned the three men, commending their bravery. French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said the three men demonstrated courageous behavior.

In a phone call French President Francois Hollande expressed his gratitude to President Obama for the actions taken by the brave Americans. Both leaders agreed that all five men acted without regard for their own safety to subdue an individual intent on causing mass casualties.

British Prime Minister David Cameron seconded the words of President Hollande and President Obama.

“On behalf of all the men and women of the Department of Defense, I want to thank the brave individuals, including two members of the U.S. military, who stepped forward to prevent an even greater tragedy from taking place aboard that train,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement. “(Stone and Skarlatos) are two reasons why -- on duty and off -- ours is finest fighting force the world has ever known.”

“Thank you to these brave young men for risking their lives to prevent a far worse tragedy,” Former Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wrote on Twitter.

On Monday, they received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor.

French authorities now have 96 hours to question the suspect. The man lived in Belgium in 2015, where authorities have also opened an investigation.

Authorities said the suspect was in possession of a Kalashnikov assault rifle and nine trimmed chargers, an automatic Luger pistol and a 9mm magazine and a cutter.

Image via US Air Force