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French train attack men receive Légion d’honneur for 'preventing carnage' French train attack men receive Légion d’honneur for 'preventing massacre'
(35 minutes later)
Three Americans and a Briton have been awarded France’s highest honour – the Légion d’honneur – for their roles in stopping a suspected terrorist attack on a train. Three young American tourists and a Briton who tackled a heavily armed gunman on a high-speed train from Paris to Amsterdam have been awarded France’s highest honour by François Hollande, who praised them as an example of the need for action when faced with terrorism.
The French president, François Hollande, said the two Americans who first tackled the gunman were soldiers, “but on Friday you were simply passengers. You behaved as soldiers but also as responsible men.” The French president said the men showed that “faced with terror, we have the power to resist” and that they “gave us a lesson in courage, in will, and therefore in hope”. He added that their actions had averted a tragedyand massacre by a determined gunman carrying large amounts of ammunition and 300 bullet rounds.
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Hollande pinned the medal on US airman Spencer Stone, national guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and their friend Anthony Sadler, who subdued the gunman as he moved through the train with an assault rifle strapped to his bare chest. The British businessman, Chris Norman, who jumped into the fray, also received a medal. Two off-duty American soldiers, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, as well as their childhood friend, student Anthony Sadler, were travelling in the first-class carriage on Friday night when Ayoub El-Khazzani, a 25-year-old Moroccan national, burst out of the toilet carrying an AK47 and ran into their carriage, firing. Stone and his friends tackled and subdued him.
Hollande said the men showed “that faced with terror, we have the power to resist. You also gave a lesson in courage, in will, and thus in hope”. Chris Norman, 62, a British IT consultant living in France, helped restrain the man and tie his hands using his necktie.
The 25-year-old Moroccan suspect, Ayoub El-Khazzani, has been detained and is being questioned by French counter-terrorism police outside Paris. The train was carrying around 500 passengers.
Khazzani’s lawyer said her client did not understand the suspicions of terrorism, media attention or even that a person was wounded. For him, there were no gunshots fired, Sophie David said. Awarding them with the Légion d’honneur, Hollande said: “The whole world admires your sangfroid. With your bare hands, unarmed, you were able to overcome a heavily armed individual, resolved to do anything.”
The Americans appeared slightly overwhelmed as they received France’s highest honour. Stone, 23 – who had his arm in a sling – said he was coming out of a deep sleep when the gunman appeared. Hollande praised the soldiers, saying: “In France you behaved as soldiers but also as responsible men. You put your life in danger to defend the idea of freedom.”
He said that Skarlatos – a 22-year-old who had recently returned from Afghanistan – “just hit me on the shoulder and said ‘Let’s go’.” Referring to the bravery of Sadler and Norman, he said they didn’t have military training and had “doubtless never seen a Kalashnikov in their life”. He added: “They stood up and fought, they refused to give in to fear or terrorism.”
With those words, Hollande said, a “veritable carnage” was avoided. Leaving the ceremony, Norman told TV crews: “I just did what I had to do.”
“Since Friday, the entire world admires your courage, your sangfroid, your spirit of solidarity. This is what allowed you to – with bare hands, your bare hands – to subdue an armed man. This must be an example for all, and a source of inspiration,” Hollande said. With France still reeling from the terrorist attacks on the magazine Charlie Hebdo and the Paris Kosher grocery store eight months ago, the Socialist president, who has been battling poor poll ratings, used the ceremony to send a political message of resolve, saying: “Our societies will never be weak when they’re united.”
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Hollande also praised three other French men who intervened, particularly a young banker who was the first to tackle the gunman when El-Khazzani burst out of the toilet. The banker, who has asked for anonymity, is to receive the Légion d’honneur in a private ceremony.
Mark Moogalian, a 51-year-old dual French-US national who teaches English at Paris’s Sorbonne university, also attempted to intervene and was badly injured by a bullet. He is currently being treated in Lille. He will also be honoured at a later date alongside a French train driver who was travelling in the carriage off-duty when he also helped subdue the gunman.
The suspect, El-Khazzani, who lived legally in Spain until last year, is still in the custody of French anti-terrorism police who can question him until Tuesday night.
The French interior minister has said several European intelligence services had flagged up the suspect’s links to “radical Islamist movements”. El-Khazzani has denied terrorism, telling investigators he wanted to rob the train.