Train heroes: The men who helped avert a massacre in Europe

The three friends from the United States traveled in Europe as vacationers. Now the world knows them as heroes.

Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos were aboard a high-speed train en route to Paris from Amsterdam on Friday when a gunman opened fire.

Americans Alek Skarlatos (from left), Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler helped tackle a gunman aboard a high-speed train.

Along with two others -- A French national and a Briton -- they charged, tackled and subdued him, officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama called the three Americans heroes. He spoke to each of them by phone Saturday, commending and congratulating them for their courage and quick action, his spokesman said.

French President Francois Hollande saluted the Americans' bravery and planned to host a meeting with them Monday that will include top government ministers.

2 members of U.S. military stop Islamist attacker on train in Belgium

Here are the five heroes who possibly averted a massacre:

 

ALEK SKARLATOS

 

The 22-year-old Skarlatos, a National Guardsman based in Oregon, was on a monthlong vacation after his return from deployment in Afghanistan.

But instead of taking in scenic European countrysides, he was taking on an attacker aboard a zipping train.

Skarlatos heard gunfire and breaking glass, and sensed something was wrong. When the suspect appeared with a gun on their car, Skarlatos mobilized others, witnesses said.

"My friend Alek Skarlatos yells, 'Get him!'" said Anthony Sadler, who was among the three. They ambushed the gunman and beat him even as he slashed one of them in the neck with a sharp object.

Skarlatos seized the suspect's rifle and hit him in the head with the muzzle.

"I'm so proud of (my son). I mean I'm in awe," his father, Emanuel Skarlatos, told CNN affiliate KVAL in Roseburg. "He inspires me."

 

ANTHONY SADLER

 

Sadler, a college senior at Sacramento State University, was on his first trip to Europe when terror struck.

When his friends jumped the gunman and took him down, he and another passenger helped restrain him and ensure he stayed down.

"The three of us beat up the guy," Sadler said. "In the process, Spencer gets slashed multiple times by the box cutter, and Alek takes the AK away. ..."

Sadler and a British passenger tied up the suspect. Sadler then went to other train cars to reassure passengers, according to Jean-Hugues Anglade, a French actor who was traveling with his family in car 11.

He "came running into our car, yelling that the shooter was overpowered by American soldiers on leave, that everything was fine," Anglade said in an interview published with French magazine Paris Match. "He reassured us, he looked for survival blankets and a first aid kit for two seriously injured people."

It'll be hard to top his first trip to Europe and his final year in college.

"I'm just a college student, it's my last year in college. I came to see my friends on my first trip in Europe and we stopped a terrorist, it's kind of crazy," said Sadler.

 

CHRIS NORMAN

 

Briton Chris Norman rushed to help the Americans overpower the suspected gunman, witnesses said.

"All of us were in the same carriage, these two guys plus Spencer -- the guy who got injured -- were sitting on the same seats, the same row at the back of the train," Norman said.

Norman, who said he was sitting at the front of the car, saw a train employee dash past.

"I looked up, I saw a guy carrying an AK-47, or at least I assumed it was some kind of machine gun anyway," he said. "I ducked down in my seat."

When Skarlatos and his friends tackled the gunman, Norman said he helped subdue him.

Norman told reporters that "rapid reasoning" prompted him to jump in and help the three Americans.

"My thought was, 'OK, I'm probably going to die anyway, so let's go.' I'd rather die being active, trying to get him down, then simply sit in the corner and be shot."

Norman added later, "What else is there to do? Either you sit down and you die or you get up and you die. It was really nothing more than that.

"We've seen enough of these kinds of attacks to understand that they will kill everybody once they get started, and my point of view was, two guys had already started tackling him. Maybe they needed some help. ... I said to myself, maybe I have a chance if I get up and I help as well."

Americans, French national tackle, overpower suspected Islamist gunman on train

 

SPENCER STONE

 

Stone, who serves in the U.S. Air Force, was hurt in the fight and hospitalized for a day. He was released from the hospital on Saturday.

When the group decided to take down the gunman, Stone made the first contact with the suspect.

"My friend Spencer Stone immediately gets up to charge the guy," Sadler said. "In the process, Spencer gets slashed multiple times by the box cutter."

Stone had injuries in the head and neck, and almost had his thumb cut off, according to his friends.

Despite his injuries, he helped a man who had his throat cut and applied pressure to the neck to prevent him from bleeding out, according to his friends.

"If anybody would have gotten shot, it would have been Spencer for sure and we're very lucky that nobody got killed, especially Spencer," Skarlatos said.

He was among three people injured during the attack. Authorities said casualties were hospitalized in Arras and Lille.

The Pentagon said one U.S. military member was injured during the confrontation, but it did not identify him. It said his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

"He's in good spirits, he's in disbelief it happened himself," Sadler said.

 

UNKNOWN FRENCH NATIONAL

 

In addition to the four men, a French national is credited with helping avert a massacre. Authorities did not identify him.

A "French (male) passenger tried courageously to overpower him before the suspect fired several shots," French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

"Then two American passengers intervened and managed to overpower the shooter, immobilized him on the ground and put aside his weaponry."

 

Applause from world leaders

 

Cazeneuve joined Obama in applauding the passengers for their rapid action.

"The President expressed his profound gratitude for the courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including U.S. service members, who selflessly subdued the attacker," the White House said in a statement.

"While the investigation into the attack is in its early stages, it is clear that their heroic actions may have prevented a far worse tragedy. We will remain in close contact with French authorities as the investigation proceeds."

The men who helped overpower attacker will meet French President Francois Hollande, his office said via Twitter on Saturday. Hollande spoke with the passengers by phone and thanked them "for their exceptional courage and their efficiency" in preventing a tragedy, and plans to meet them at an unannounced date.

The suspect is in custody and undergoing interrogations.

French media, citing French officials, identified the suspect as Ayoub El Khazzani, a Moroccan national. El Khazzani's identity was established through DNA analysis and matches the DNA records Spanish authorities had on file, according to French media.

 

News Courtesy: www.cnn.com