FRANCE-TRAIN/AMERICANS NEWSER Three Americans who overpowered gunman on train in France give newser in Paris

Record ID: 142892

  • Title: FRANCE-TRAIN/AMERICANS NEWSER Three Americans who overpowered gunman on train in France give newser in Paris
  • Date: 23rd August 2015
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 23, 2015) (AGENCY POOL) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (LEFT TO RIGHT) AMERICANS ANTHONY SADLER, SPENCER STONE, U.S. AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE JANE D. HARTLEY, AND AMERICAN ALEK SKARLATOS POSING FOR PICTURES AT AMERICAN EMBASSY IN PARIS AHEAD OF NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN CITIZEN AND AIRMAN FROM U.S. AIR BASE IN LAJES, AZORES, SPENCER STONE, SAYING: "It's kind of a long story, but I kind of just woke up from the middle of a deep sleep and my friend Anthony... Alek was sitting next to me, Anthony was across to my right side, and I turned around and I saw he had a, what looked to be a AK-47 and he looked like it was jammed and wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon and Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said 'Let's go' and ran down, tackled him, we hit the ground, Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a choke hold. It seemed like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right, pulled out a hand gun, Alek took that, took out a box cutter, started jabbing at me with that, we let go, all three of us started punching him while he was in the middle of us. And then I was able to grab him again, choke him unconscious, while Alek was hitting him on the head with a pistol or rifle, I can't really remember, but that's pretty much what happened, so." JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN CITIZEN, STUDENT, ANTHONY SADLER, SAYING: "These are my friends and I was the third one to get up. And I just want the lesson to be learned that basically in times of crisis like that I would want it to be learned that basically to do something, hiding or sitting back is not going to accomplish anything. The gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not gotten up, so I just want that lesson to be learned going forward in times of like terror like that to please do something, don't just stand by and watch." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEX380EW7FKF3HSMW5UDN81YJF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Three American citizens who overpowered a gunman on a train in France on Friday (August 21) described the accident at a news conference in Paris on Sunday (August 23).
    An armed attacker wounded three people on a high-speed train in France on Friday before being overpowered by passengers who included an American soldier.
    Spencer Stone and his two friends Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos were on the train when the incident happened and decided that the best thing they could do was to act in order to prevent the attacker from hurting many people.
    "It's kind of a long story, but I kind of just woke up from the middle of a deep sleep and my friend Anthony... Alek was sitting next to me, Anthony was across to my right side, and I turned around and I saw he had a, what looked to be a AK-47 and he looked like it was jammed and wasn't working and he was trying to charge the weapon and Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said 'Let's go' and ran down, tackled him, we hit the ground, Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a choke hold. It seemed like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right, pulled out a hand gun, Alek took that, took out a box cutter, started jabbing at me with that, we let go, all three of us started punching him while he was in the middle of us. And then I was able to grab him again, choke him unconscious, while Alek was hitting him on the head with a pistol or rifle, I can't really remember, but that's pretty much what happened, so," Spencer told journalists during the news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
    French and Spanish sources close to the case have identified him as a 26-year-old Moroccan named Ayoub el Khazzani who was known to European authorities as a suspected Islamist militant.
    Anthony Sadler told journalists that the main lesson he took from the event was that it is important to act in similar situations and not just stand aside and watch the crime happening.
    "These are my friends and I was the third one to get up. And I just want the lesson to be learned that basically in times of crisis like that I would want it to be learned that basically to do something, hiding or sitting back is not going to accomplish anything. The gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not gotten up, so I just want that lesson to be learned going forward in times of like terror like that to please do something, don't just stand by and watch," Sadler said.
    Khazzani is believed to have lived in Spain for his early adult life and was arrested at least once for drug trafficking, according to Reuters sources. Some Spanish newspapers said he may have been radicalised while in prison.
    Spanish security sources say Khazzani lived in Madrid between 2007 and 2010 before moving to the southern Spanish port of Algeciras. A community leader in the city told Reuters he had lived there with his family in El Saladillo, a neighbourhood plagued by high unemployment and drug-related crime.
    According to the Spanish security sources, he travelled to France in 2014 and went to Syria. French security sources said he went to Berlin airport for a flight to Istanbul on May 10 this year. Turkey is a preferred flight destination for would-be jihadists heading for Syria.
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register