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UPDATE: Four heroes, including two US servicemen, stop Muslim terrorist on French train [Darleen Click]

Via Geoffb … latest from The Telegraph

Chris Norman: I realised the only way to survive was to go for him

More from that press conference with the British businessman who helped overcome the attacker on the train.

He said: “I was just sitting working on my computer. I saw a man with a Kalashnikov. I said to myself s***.

“I heard an American saying, ‘go get him’, then someone else saying, ‘Don’t you do that buddy’. Then I realised the only way to survive was to go for him.”

He added: “I’m not a hero I just did what I could.”

“The heroes were Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler…. The train staff thought they were just fighting. To begin with they didn’t understand what was happening.

“I think his (attacker’s) gun jammed. We’re were incredibly lucky.

“He put up a bit of a fight but Spencer is a strong guy and he succeeded in overpowering him. I held down his arm, his left arm, so he couldn’t get his gun.

“He was relatively thin and not that strong so I didn’t have too much difficulty keeping him pinned down. He was bare-chested….

“All I want to do now is go home and spend time with my family… I didn’t hear him asking for his weapon back. What I did hear was Alek saying stop struggling. We got him down on the floor and tied him up while Alek went to look for other terrorists.”

Mr Norman said he didn’t sleep at all last night. “The great thing is that everyone in the train managed to overpower him without anyone being killed.” […]

15.54
Chris Norman: “My thought was I am going to die anyway so let’s go”

Chris Norman, the British businessman who was on the train with the attacker and tied him up is speaking at a press conference.

He said: “My thought was I am going to die any way so lets go. I’d rather die being active than sitting in the corner being shot.”

Asked if he felt scared, he said: “Once you start moving, you’re not afraid any more.” […]

14.16
Train attacker’s weapon was ‘faulty’

One of the American soldiers who restrained the attacker on the train said that it appeared his weapon was faulty.

Alek Skarlatos, 22, said: “If that guy’s weapon would have been functioning properly I don’t even want to think about how it would have went.”

He also said that the attacker did not seem to know how to handle the gun properly.

Mr Skarlatos told Sky News: “I grabbed the handgun, got the handgun away from the guy and threw it. Then I grabbed the AK which was at his feet and started muzzle-thumping him in the head with it.

“Everybody just started beating on the guy while Spencer held the choke hold, until he went unconscious at that point. People started to restrain him.”

Mr Skarlatos – who said that everyone was just reacting on “adrenaline” – picked up the AK-47 and checked the other cars to ensure there was not another gunman.

Mr Skarlatos returned to car 12, where it all started, cleared the weapons and put them in a pile.

Earlier reports were that the two American servicemen were Marines, it is confirmed as an Airman and National Guard:

12.24

A British consultant and three young Americans have been praised by David Cameron for their bravery after they overpowered a gunman on a train in France.

Chris Norman, 62, was travelling from Amsterdam to Paris aboard the high-speed Thalys train when the heavily armed man opened fire.

He helped US Air Force serviceman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and Sacramento State University student Anthony Sadler to get the man under control.

6 Replies to “UPDATE: Four heroes, including two US servicemen, stop Muslim terrorist on French train [Darleen Click]”

geoffb says:

August 22, 2015 at 12:55 pm

A bit more from an Insty link.

One of the Americans, Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone, was stabbed and remained in the hospital Saturday, said the parents of his two friends. The Pentagon said his wounds were not life-threatening.

Stone, who is stationed at Lajes Air Base in the Azores, was traveling with Spc. Alek Skarlatos, an Oregon National Guardsman, and a civilian friend, according to the Pentagon. Anthony Sadler, a student at Sacramento State University, is their civilian companion, according to their families.
Darleen says:

August 22, 2015 at 1:48 pm

Stone was just released from hospital.

What outstanding young men!
cranky-d says:

August 22, 2015 at 2:43 pm

There you go again, trying to give me some hope for humanity.
Ernst Schreiber says:

August 22, 2015 at 7:23 pm

Two Unarmed Marines Take out Armed Jihadi makes for a better story.
Bob Belvedere says:

August 22, 2015 at 11:08 pm

Michael Ledeen’s comments are right on the money [the Franc?]:

Not that the errors substantially distorted what took place. There was indeed an Arab terrorist – the usual radical Muslim – on the train, he was heavily armed, and he was tackled by three Americans, and, as it turned out, by a 62-year old British passenger as well.

The biggest mistake in the early accounts had to do with the Americans. Most all the early reports said they were “Marines.” In the event, none of them was. The trio consisted of one college student, one Air Force enlisted man, and a member of the Army Reserves who had served in Afghanistan.

On the one hand, it was entirely in keeping with the French stereotype of Americans to assume that such brave young fighters were from the Marine Corps. Who else would be so brave, impetuous and effective? Indeed, although I doubt the reporters knew it, the Americans had followed a central element of official Marine strategy: if you come under attack, don’t hunker down on defense, go right at your attackers instead.

…

The French, too, lived up to their “surrender monkey” reputation. Members of the onboard staff quickly ran away from the action, and locked themselves in a safe room, and refused cries for help from passengers.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelledeen/2015/08/22/the-marines-on-the-french-train/print/
bgbear says:

August 23, 2015 at 10:03 am

I always wonder if I could keep my head and go on the attack (assuming I couldn’t safely run away). The Virginia tech shooting seemed so confusing that no one went on offense.