Free Republic

Ayoub El Khazzani, the 25-year-old gunman from Morocco who opened fire on a train in France last week, intended to murder everyone on the train as part of a Muslim terrorist attack before being stopped by citizens, revealed French Prosecutor Francois Molins on Tuesday. El Khazzani, who lived in Spain where he was flagged as a potential jihadist by intelligence services that alerted France about him before the attack, was armed for a massacre, Molins said. He was toting an AKM assault rifle replete with 270 rounds of ammo, a Luger M80 automatic pistol packed with a full clip, a...

The Air Force is awarding Airman First Class Spencer Stone its highest non-combat honor, the Airman’s Medal, for his heroic actions aboard a Paris train, the Air Force announced Monday. Stone, Alek Skarlatos and college friend Anthony Sadler took down a gunman wielding an AK-47 and box cutter as he began an assault on a high-speed train bound for Paris late Friday. The trio have been hailed as heroes in France, where they were awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor, on Monday by French president Francois Hollande. “What the gunman did not expect was a confrontation with our...

Three Americans and a British grandfather who prevented 'carnage' by tackling the French train terrorist have been awarded France's highest honour for bravery. U.S. Airman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, their friend Anthony Sadler and Briton Chris Norman were presented with the Legion d'Honneur at the Elysee Palace in Paris. French President Francois Hollande, who pinned on their medals, praised the men for taking action in the face of terrorism. The ceremony was held as the first heroic passenger who wrestled a machine gun from the terrorist was today revealed to be an American professor.

Attacker armed with Kalashnikov shouted "give me back my gun" as he was foiled by three Americans, including two off-duty servicemen - follow live updates

Paris (AFP) - A gunman tackled by young Americans on a train between Amsterdam and Paris pleaded with them to hand back his Kalashnikov after they overpowered him, one of the group said. "Everything happened very fast," Anthony Sadler, a student travelling with friends Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone, both members of the US military, told France's BFMTV. "I didn't realise what was happening until I saw a guard run past. I looked back and saw a guy enter with a Kalashnikov. My friends and I got down and then I said 'Let's get him'," said Skarlatos, a 22-year-old member...

So what do you get when an airman and weekend warrior go on vacation? Spencer lets go. I am so proud of these two service members I could burst. These aren't special ops guys, they are your neighbor's son or the buddy that can't make the game this weekend because he has guard duty. They are the day to day Americans that the media never notices. Spencer lets go, is a picture of what normal American citizens can do if they choose to take responsibility for the world around them, even when that world has suddenly turned very dark and...

Video was released of the Moroccan gunman immediately after the terrorist attack on a high-speed train from Brussels to Paris. The terrorist is laying on the floor hog-tied by US servicemen. ** They beat him unconscious before they tied him up. Spencer Stone, of the U.S. Air Force, was traveling with Oregon National Guard member Alek Skarlatos, 22, (right) who was on leave after a tour of Afghanistan, when he heard the gunman load his weapon in the toilet. Skarlatos shouted ‘Spencer, go!’ and they charged him down. (Daily Mail) The train staff locked themselves into a staffroom during the...

<p>A student from Northern California was among several train passengers who helped overpower a machine gun-toting attacker who wounded three people on a high-speed train in Europe Friday, authorities said.</p> <p>Anthony Sadler Jr., a student from Rancho Cordova, California, was on the train before the attack, which French government officials said could have taken many lives if not for the bravery of Sadler and two of his friends.</p>

A French official close to the investigation says police have positively identified the train gunman as 26-year-old Moroccan Ayoub El-Khazzani. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said earlier Saturday that Spanish authorities had alerted French intelligence to him in February 2014 because he “belonged to the radical Islamist movement,” and the French put him on a security watch list. El-Khazzani was identified through his fingerprints, according to the official, who insisted on not being identified by name because of the ongoing probe. …

It happened again: on a train filled with cheese eating surrender monkeys hurtling through the Belgian countryside towards Paris, the Americans came to the rescue: Crew on Paris-bound train barricaded themselves in their staffroom and locked the door as Kalashnikov-wielding terrorist went on the rampage – leaving PASSENGERS to take him down. And, as usual, the passengers were 3 Americans and a Brit. When an Islamic terrorist (Can I say that? The French called for caution before jumping to conclusions.) opened fire with an AK-47 (wait, you’re not allowed to have an assault rifle in France!) he was rushed and...

PARIS — A gunman opened fire on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris Friday, wounding two people before being subdued by two American passengers, officials said. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking in Arras in northern France where the suspected was detained, said one of the Americans was hospitalized with serious wounds. Their names were not immediately released. Philippe Lorthiois, an official with the Alliance police union, said on i-Tele that the two Americans were soldiers. In Washington, the Pentagon said it “can only confirm that one U.S. military member was injured in the incident. The injury is...

PARIS — A gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris Friday, wounding three people before being subdued by two American passengers, officials said. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking in Arras in northern France where the suspected was detained, said one of the Americans was hospitalized with serious wounds. Their names were not immediately released. Politics Opinions Sports Local National World Business Tech Lifestyle Entertainment Video Real Estate Photography Live Chats Marketplaces WP BrandConnect Partners washingtonpost.com © 1996-2015 The Washington Post Terms of Service Privacy Policy Submissions and Discussion Policy RSS...

Unarmed US Marine 'in critical condition' after Kalashnikov-wielding suspected terrorist on board high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. An unarmed US Marine who ambushed a Kalashnikov-wielding gunman on a train between Amsterdam and Paris is in critical condition, according to French media reports. The serviceman, who has not been named, was one of two Americans who tackled the 26-year-old Moroccan national to the ground after hearing him load up a gun in the toilet. In the scuffle, one of the Marines was shot and another stabbed. France Info reports one is in a critical condition. Addressing reporters at the station...

A gunman opened fire on board a high speed train in northern France. Eyewitnesses said three U.S. Marines on the train disarmed the gunman. The man was armed with a deadly a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. Three people were wounded and the gunman is currently in police custody.

A man has been arrested after firing a Kalashnikov rifle on board an Amsterdam-Paris train, according to French media. Le Parisien reports that a Briton and an American are "seriously" wounded. A third person, the French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, was also wounded and is said to have raised the alarm. La Voix du Nord, a newspaper in the Calais region, said a man was arrested on suspicion of firing the weapon on a Thalys train near the northern town of Arras. Police say that have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister,...

A gunman shot and wounded three people on a train travelling between Amsterdam and Paris before the assailant was overpowered by passengers, a spokesman for French state rail company SNCF said. The incident happened near Arras in northern France shortly after 4pm GMT

[Translated from LIVE THREAD on Le Figaro website] 14:24 The injured American soldier has surgery Between 10 o'clock and 12:30 Spencer Stone underwent a succesful operation on his hand. The surgery took plance at the Hand Clinic at Lesquin, a suburb south of Liile. The soldier is now recovering and will later be heard by the police. 15:38 Spencer Stone may leave the hospital by Saturday evening. Spencer Stone, one of the Americans who helped subdue the shooter on the Thalys train between Amsterdam-Paris on Friday should be able to leave the clinic where he underwnet a succesful surgical procedure...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A National Guard soldier from Roseburg was among two American service members who took down a gunman who opened fire on a French train Friday. Alek Skarlatos of Roseburg was riding the train during a European vacation when a young man armed with a Kalashnikov rifle and a box cutter opened fire. Skarlatos and his traveling companion –Spencer Stone, who is in the Air Force – heard the gunshots from an adjacent car, according to his father Emanuel Skarlatos. “Of course they knew exactly what it was, being in the military,” Emanuel said.