More on the thwarted terrorist train attack
Well, it turns out there weren’t any Marines involved. Which turns out not to have really mattered.
And there were three Americans, not two. One is in the Air Force, one in the Oregon National Guard, and one a civilian. The three—who are friends—were the ones who tackled and pinned the shooter (the pinning accomplished with the help of an older British man).
It is unclear, but the shooter’s gun may have jammed—although, if so, they had no idea this was the case when they made their charge towards him. One passenger also appears to have gotten shot in the neck by the gunman before they managed to stop further carnage. There were no fatalities and everyone is expected to survive.
Instead of trying to describe the scene, I’ll just let three of them tell about it. The most heroic of all is in the hospital and therefore not part of the interview, although he’s reported to be doing well despite having been badly cut by the gunman:
This is rich:
The man who attacked the train yesterday is denying that he is a terrorist, and claims only to have planned to rob the train.
French TV channel BFMTV also reports that he claimed he found the bag of weapons “in a park in Brussels”.
No doubt.
Here are some facts about the three Americans, with photos. Some of the descriptions of the attack and their actions are based on earlier accounts and are incorrect, but I put the links here because of the photos:
Spencer Stone, Air Force, and the man who was wounded.
Alek Skarlatos, National Guard, who recently served in Afghanistan.
Anthony Sadler, Sacramento resident on his first trip to Europe.
[ADDENDUM: More information here:
When a French passenger tried to enter a bathroom on the train, he encountered the gunman and tried to overpower him and the gun was then fired, Mr Cazeneuve said.
A French-American passenger was injured by the bullet, and the American passengers intervened shortly afterward, he said.
“Spencer got to the guy first and grabbed the guy by the neck,” Mr Skarlatos told Sky News.
“I grabbed the handgun, got that away from the guy and threw it. Then I grabbed the AK-47, which was at his feet, and started muzzle-bumping him in the head with it.
“Everybody just started beating the guy while Spencer held the chokehold until he went unconscious.”
If you scroll down, there’s a wonderful video (I can’t seem to embed it) of an interview with Sadler’s parents. Do yourself a favor and watch it.]
“He leaves here a young man on an excursion to broaden his world view and have fun with his buddies; and he comes back a France’s national hero. I’m told he might even meet the President of France before he leaves. Still wrapping my head around that!”
What a heck of a first trip abroad! And they are clearly, and deservedly so, proud parents.
Are you guys Marines?
Nah. Just Americans.
It is clear from that short video that Sadler’s parents raised him right. It’s not surprising that he had the character to act as he did in that horrible situation.
More like him and his parents, please.
I still feel like I don’t really understand what happened barely at all. Every story I’ve read pretty much contradicts every other story I’ve read when it comes to details.
He was in the bathroom, he wasn’t in the bathroom.
He was carrying the AK 47, it was at his feet.
They overheard him in the bathroom, the gunshot woke them up.
The American is in critical condition, he’s got some cuts.
One quote says he sprinted 30 feet down the train to get to the gunman. How could that be true if they overheard him in the bathroom?
It’s all seems to be hazy crap at this point.
American men. Black & white. Enlisted & civilian. So beautiful.
When one converts from left to right, the transition gets strong and permanent when one comes to love and embrace not certain politicians or media dolls but, rather “regular Americans.” The “fly overs.” People.
Regular Americans, women and men, are the representatives of heart & courage & don’t tread on me. This is the core of all humans on earth. We are so lucky to live in the country which is based on and continues to seek this kernel of freedom in the heart.
Thank you, men for exercising your instinct.
Go out today and greet some “regular Americans.”
Americans (and Brit) coming to the rescue of the French.
Hmmm…seems that this is a recurring story.
__________
__________
(rumor has it that the French guy who confronted the gunman in the bathroom was merely attempting to raise a white flag).
Its what men do…
Men used to be recognized for such natural proclivities and people used to be grateful for it (see neo post on the memorial for the titanic from the women).
but that was before women hated men as a social rule, and had to ignore anything they could do, unless they were doing it to dilute it to nothing.
for some reason in so many of these stories, i rarely see women stand up and do the same thing, even military women. it happens, but usually when none others are doing something. if guys do something, the ladies usually just bow out.
sadly we are not to recognize or reward such selflessness…
What a lovely video of Sadler’s parents. Everybody should be so lucky as to have a father like Mr. Sadler.
But I hope that we can all agree on the principle thing about this situation, that islam had nothing to do with it and that our highest duty now is to protect moslems from having their feelings hurt.
The Marines will probably try to recruit them; they have the right attitude.
Wonderful story. The adage to discount the first report of any incident, or first several reports, is again borne out. Nevertheless, in the end we know who the heroes are. Bless them.
This thread needs a Lee Greenwood, “Proud To Be an American, God Bless USA” soundtrack in the background.
What a contrast to the OWS and BLM creeps. They really make me proud to be an American.
The gunman was already on a terrorist watch list, according to CNN.
Weather departments had determined to convey, for the safety of the viewing public, alerts of either a storm ‘watch’, storm ‘warning’, and ‘seek cover’. National security departments are content to dabble in terrorist ‘watch lists’. It’s a great comfort, it is, that someone is watching the watch lists. But who is watching the terrorists? It seems only passersby.
Thanks for the referral to the video of the parents, Neo. That was touching and impressive. That father is clearly a fine man who raised his son to be the same kind of man.
kcom, in contrast to the wonderful things you wrote about “regular Americans,” here’s something reported by one of the passengers – a French actor who was injured breaking glass to pull the alarm – about the reaction of the train staff (presumably French?):
“In an interview with Paris Match magazine, Mr Anglade said train staff entered a private cabin and locked it when they heard gunshots, leaving the passengers alone.”
Tonawanda Says at 11:39 am
“But I hope that we can all agree on the principle thing about this situation, that islam had nothing to do with it…”
Yes indeed. Tonawanda has the drill down perfectly. Might we add that the Christians need to get off their high horse because of the Crusades 500 years ago? Muslim feelings are very important since once you hurt their feelings they stay hurt for hundreds of years.
I kind of like the fact that after all the comments of “Semper Fi” and “that’s what Marines do”, these guys turned out to be just an Airman and National Guardsman. The Marines deserve our utmost respect, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that members of the other services often act with equal valor. For example, I recommend reading Jake Tapper’s The Outpost, which chronicles the incredible courage and sacrifice of soldiers defending a basically indefensible remote combat outpost in the mountains of Afghanistan. In the end the outpost was overrun by hundreds of Taliban, and in spite of fearsome casualties, a single small platoon of 50 soldiers managed to take back their outpost. What struck me was that these guys were just ordinary soldiers, not Marines or paratroopers, Rangers, SEALs or any of the other elites. The takeaway from all of this for me is that we still have young Americans that we should be enormously proud of.
On another note, I think that we should stop trashing the French for what happened in 1940- it makes us appear arrogant and petty. A while back I spent a year deployed to the Balkans with the NATO peacekeepers, and got to know a lot of French soldiers. They were pretty impressive.
It’s encouraging to see that some of that American cowboy spirit that Europeans and American elites like to bash has survived the assault from the left.
Chris,
The French did the most heavy-lifting of the Allies in WWI.
Marines have their elite elements, but the typical Marine rifleman is not superior to the typical Army infantryman.
Yeah. Many Crusaders were French. The attempted train attack was payback for the Crusades. Allah the merciful and his insane so-called Prophet in action after hundreds of years.
The truth is these kind of attacks are going to be with us for a long time. These Muslims are too damn stupid to know that they can’t win unless, of course, we allow Iran to get nukes and change every single calculation and shift the balance of power.
I would love to see one of these heroes to publically unload on the Iran deal. My secret fantasy.
Oldflier:
“The Marines will probably try to recruit them; they have the right attitude.”
If you mean an Oregon Army National Guardsman would inevitably improve the ranks of the Marines Id agree, but I dont know whether or not anyone would be willing to take the downgrade.
Oh, by the way: 41st Inf BDE. Go team!
This story sure does show how difficult it is to get the correct facts from a news story when it first breaks. Marines or not, it’s still a story of Americans taking responsibility for protecting themselves and others while showing courage in a dangerous situation. Good on ’em!
Three young friends traveling in Europe and one is black. Does BLM know about this? The horror. A few days ago I saw two young men, one white, one black, crossing the street together. I could see in the way they moved and talked to each other that they were buddies. It made me think about the bizarre world view of BLM. Anthony Sadler’s parents are the antithesis of the BLM mind set. They’re Americans raising their son to be a good citizen. Skin color doesn’t enter into it at all.
“The man who attacked the train yesterday is denying that he is a terrorist…”
Yeah, and I’m a Brussels sprout.
This may not be fair, but we are talking about a French train in France with French and Dutch passengers. A bad guy enters the car with semi automatic weapons and three unarmed young Americans charge and subdue him. What were the other passengers doing? I guess it’s American exceptionalism kind of like Flight 93 and “let’s roll.”
I do not feel inclined to disparage the other passengers who took no action.They are not trained as our brave men were.If I had been on that train, I would have frozen with no idea what to do.
s graham: “They are not trained as our brave men were.”
It’s less the technical training than the moral training with traditional social masculine values.