French Train Attack: Virginia Native Wrestled Gun From Shooter

Photo: Mark Moogalian. NBC12, ReverbNation

The first person to wrestle with the gunman Friday on a train bound for Paris was a Midlothian High School grad and former Virginia resident.

Mark Moogalian was the first person to disarm the gunman, according to a statement by his family.

“When the gunman came out of the bathroom another person engaged him and was thrown to the side, Mark then jumped in and after a struggle was able to get the AK 47 away,” according to the statement.

Moogalian moved to protect his wife without realizing that the gunman, 26-year-old Moroccan Ayoub El-Khazzani, also had a pistol. The man shot Moogalian in the back. The bullet reportedly went through his lung and exited his collarbone.

The gunman then retrieved the AK-47 and that’s when he was disarmed by three Americans: Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and civilian Anthony Sadler, along with British passenger Chris Norman.

Those men were given France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, by President Francois Hollande on Monday. Moogalian will be awarded the Legion d’Honneur when he is well enough, according to the Telegraph.

“Without his actions, a lot of people on that train probably would have been shot, if he didn’t do what he did,” a family member said in a phone interview with NBC12.

Mark Moogalian now lives in Paris and teaches English at the Sorbonne. His sister told The Telegraph that he is recovering, but his injuries were serious.

“He’s in hospital still and it looks like he may have lost some of the functionality of his left arm,” she told the paper. “He’s okay. He still has metal from the bullet in his body.”