Heroism and a weapons malfunction

PARIS — It was 5:45 p.m., a normal Friday afternoon on the sleek high-speed train that takes high-level European diplomats, businesspeople, tourists and ordinary citizens between Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.

Less than an hour away from Paris, a French passenger got up from his seat to use the toilets at the back of the carriage. Suddenly, in front of him rose a slightly built man. Across the man’s chest, in a sling, was an automatic rifle of the kind favored by jihadists the world over: an AK-47.

The passenger threw himself on the man. The gun went off, once, twice, several times. Glass shattered. A bullet hit a passenger. The man with the gun kept going down the carriage, holding his AK-47 and a Luger pistol. In a pocket was a sharp blade capable of inflicting grievous harm. The man had at least nine cartridges of ammunition, enough for serious carnage.

Alek Skarlatos, a specialist in the National Guard from Oregon who was vacationing in Europe with his Air Force friend, Airman First Class Spencer Stone and another American, Anthony Sadler, looked up and saw the gunman.

Stone was the first to act, jumping up at the command of Skarlatos. He sprinted through the carriage toward the gunman, running “a good 10 meters to get to the guy,” Skarlatos said. Stone was unarmed; his target was visibly bristling with weapons.

With Skarlatos close behind, Stone grabbed the gunman’s neck, stunning him. But the gunman fought back, slashing with his blade, slicing Stone in the neck and hand and nearly severing his thumb. Stone did not let go.

The AK-47 had fallen to the gunman’s feet. Skarlatos picked it up and “started muzzle-thumping him in the head with it,” he said.

By then, an alarm had sounded. Jean-Hugues Anglade, a wellknown French actor, had set it off. The train began to slow down.

Stone, wounded and bleeding, kept the suspect in a chokehold. “Spencer Stone is a very strong guy,” Norman said. The suspect passed out. Norman busied himself binding him up with a tie.

Skarlatos, the AK-47 in hand, began to patrol through the carriages, looking for other gunmen. He made a startling discovery: The suspect’s guns had malfunctioned, and he had not had the competence to fix them.

“I mean, if that guy’s weapon had been functioning properly,” Skarlatos said, “I don’t even want to think about how it would have went.”