Heroic American testifies at terror trial
Attack on France train thwarted by U.S. trio
PARIS — One of three Americans acclaimed as heroes for tackling an alleged Islamic State gunman aboard a Paris-bound train testified Friday that he tried to kill the man who stormed into their passenger car with an arsenal of weapons.
Alek Skarlatos, 28, told a Paris court at the gunman’s trial that he yanked a pistol from the attacker’s hand, turned it on him and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire.
“I was honestly trying my best to kill or restrain him,” Skarlatos said, recounting the chaotic Aug. 21, 2015, scene aboard the high-speed Amsterdam-to-paris train.
The attack suspect, Ayoub El Khazzani, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he is convicted of attempted terrorist murder. The 31-year-old Moroccan, who had spent time in Syria, is being tried in a heavily guarded courtroom with three suspected accomplices.
The monthlong trial, which opened this week, could help expose the web that linked the underworld of the Islamic State group and uncover plots to target Europe. The man considered the coordinator of the November 2015 massacre outside a stadium and at a music hall and restaurants in Paris that left 130 people dead had traveled with El Khazzani from Syria to Europe, according to investigators.
El Khazzani’s defense appears to be trying to show that he did not intend to commit mass slaughter on the train.
He boarded in Brussels, carrying a cache of arms in a suitcase, including an AK-47, nine clips with 30 rounds each, a pistol and a cutter.
Skarlatos said that after the foiled attack, he immediately told police about his intention to kill the gunman because he was uncertain about self-defense laws in France. He changed his story after seeking information from the FBI, he said later at a news conference.
The recollections in court this week from passengers who disarmed the attacker on the fast train from Amsterdam have highlighted the split-second decisions that prevented what witnesses contend could have become a mass slaughter.
A French-american passenger, Mark Moogalian, was badly wounded by a gunshot. Moogalian was one of two people who initially confronted the gunman as he emerged from a toilet bare-chested and holding the AK-47.
The heroics of a handful of passengers inspired Clint Eastwood to direct a Hollywood movie reenacting the dramatic events: “The 15:17 to Paris.”
Moogalian, whose neck was spurting blood, saw the Americans move into action, with Stone diving on the gunman when he entered their train car.
“I was happy because the cavalry had arrived,” Moogalian said in testimony Thursday.