France train attack: American-French citizen was shot trying to tackle gunman
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Version 0 of 1. An American-French citizen has been identified as one of the passengers who acted to halt the attack on a Paris-bound Thalys train on Friday. Mark Moogalian, 51, an American-born professor at the Sorbonne, noticed something odd about the way a young man had brought a suitcase into the bathroom of the train, and when the man exited with a Kalashnikov, the academic was one of the first of several people to halt what could have been a deadly attack. A number of people were injured and the alleged gunman is being questioned by investigators. Moogalian was shot attempting to tackle the gunman, his wife said. At a ceremony on Monday, French president François Hollande presented three Americans and a Briton with France’s highest honor for subduing the gunman, while Moogalian was being treated in Lille for the injuries he sustained during the attack. He is expected to recover and will receive the Légion d’honneur later. A young French banker who also intervened has asked for anonymity and will also be presented with the award, but at a private ceremony. Moogalian’s wife Isabella Risacher-Moogalian was on board the train, which was carrying more than 500 passengers. She told Europe1 that her husband was suspicious of the amount of time the gunman had spent in the bathroom and rushed him when he came out, armed with a gun. “I did not see my husband get shot; it happened too quickly and I was pretty much hiding behind seats,’ Risacher-Moogalian said. “But I look at my husband through the seats at an angle and he looked straight at me and said, ‘I’m hit!’ ... “There was blood everywhere. I ran towards him and I could see that he had a wound on his back. I then saw another wound by his neck.” Ayoub el-Khazzani, a 26-year-old Moroccan national, is alleged to be the gunman and is being questioned by investigators. El-Khazzani’s lawyer, Sophie David, said the man planned to rob the passengers and that the attack was not connected to terrorism. Julia Allen, Moogalian’s sister, told NBC News that she did not know when her brother would be released from the hospital. “It’s been extremely emotional because he’s an ocean away, and we cannot be there to give him our comfort and our love and our hugs,” Allen said. Related: British grandfather describes how he helped overpower gunman Spencer Stone, an off-duty soldier American soldier who helped stop the gunman, tended to Moogalian with first aid after he and two of his American friends tackled el-Khazzani. British IT consultant, Chris Norman, 62, helped restrain the gunman with his necktie. “He [Stone] put his finger on the wound in the middle of his [Mooglian’s] neck and he stayed in that position for the whole journey until we got to Arras so I think he really saved my husband’s life,” Risacher-Moogalian told BFM TV. Moogalian has lived in France for more than 20 years and is originally from Midlothian, Virginia. He teaches English at the Sorbonne university in Paris and his website shows that he likes to paint, make music and take photos. “He has taken a much different path than much of the family, and what he has accomplished has been very much on his own,” his uncle, Harry Moogalian, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. |