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3 Who Stopped Train Attack Were Boyhood Friends 3 Who Stopped Train Attack Were Boyhood Friends
(about 3 hours later)
The three Americans who subdued a gunman aboard a train to Paris are friends from their middle-school days, and two of them serve in the armed forces. By May, it was decided: Three friends who met as middle-schoolers in California would take a European vacation.
This month, they embarked on a tour of Europe with stops in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain. But their trip was interrupted on Friday when a gunman boarded the high-speed train headed from Amsterdam to Paris, prepared to wreak havoc. “I’m going to Europe!!!! Like wow,” Anthony Sadler, 23, wrote on Twitter on May 14, three months before jetting off with Alek Skarlatos, 22, and Spencer Stone, 23.
The two service members, Specialist Alek Skarlatos, 22, and Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23, are both originally from Carmichael, Calif., according to the newspaper The Oregonian. Mr. Stone serves in the United States Air Force and Mr. Skarlatos in the Oregon Army National Guard. On his first international trip, he planned to spend three weeks traveling across Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain with Mr. Skarlatos and Mr. Stone, two of his closest friends, both of whom are in the Armed Forces. Mr. Skarlatos is a specialist in the Oregon National Guard; Mr. Stone is an airman in the Air Force.
They were joined by a third friend, Anthony Sadler, 23, a college student in Sacramento. Meals and sightseeing were part of the itinerary. Disrupting an act of terror was not.
The trio had visited Rome, Venice, Munich, Berlin and Amsterdam and were headed to Paris and Barcelona, according to Mr. Sadler’s Facebook page. But on Friday, they did just that, tackling and subduing a gunman on a high-speed train in France. The next day, their faces were on televisions around the world, and they were being hailed as heroes.
As the train headed to Paris, they heard what sounded like gunfire, according to Mr. Sadler’s sister, Arissa. The three friends had planned to spend Friday night in Amsterdam, but changed their minds at the last minute and took a train that day headed to Paris, Mr. Skarlatos’s father, Emanuel, told The Oregonian newspaper.
After seeing the gunman struggling with another passenger, the three friends rushed to subdue the gunman, who was carrying an AK-47 rifle, a handgun, ammunition and a sharp blade, according to the authorities. Mr. Sadler, a college student in Sacramento, and Mr. Skarlatos had come to meet with Mr. Stone, who is stationed in the Azores Islands near Portugal. Mr. Skarlatos, who returned to Oregon in July after a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, left for Europe on Aug. 11. Mr. Sadler followed the next day. On Monday, Mr. Sadler wrote in a response to a comment on a Facebook photo that he was going to Amsterdam, Paris and Barcelona, after having visited Rome, Venice, Munich and Berlin.
Mr. Stone was the first to jump up and charge the gunman, followed closely by Mr. Skarlatos and Mr. Sadler, according to Ms. Sadler. They were on a high-speed train bound for Paris when, after a stop in Brussels, they heard what sounded like gunfire, according to Mr. Sadler’s sister, Arissa. After seeing the gunman struggling with another passenger, the three friends rushed to subdue the him. No one was critically hurt or killed in the attack. Although Mr. Stone’s thumb was severely cut, he moved quickly to help stem the bleeding of another injured passenger.
The three tackled the gunman and, with the help of a British businessman living in France, tied him up, she said. Mr. Stone aided the other passenger because he is a trained medical technician whose “second instinct” is to help in a crisis, said Airman First Class Sean Murphy, a friend at the Lajes air base in the Azores, where both men serve as emergency medical personnel. Still, Mr. Murphy said in a telephone interview from Lajes, he was shocked when he woke up on Saturday to hundreds of emails overnight saying that his friend was a hero of the French train episode.
Mr. Stone was among the injured. His thumb was severely cut, the businessman, Chris Norman, said in a news conference on Saturday. “We’re both medical techs, sure, but as far as this craziness? No,” he said.
Josh Knight, 25, a survival instructor for the Air Force, remembered Mr. Stone from basic training in San Antonio in 2012. Col. Rick Sheffe, Mr. Stone’s commanding officer at Lajes, said he had been waiting in line — behind President Obama — to speak to Mr. Stone. At Lajes on Saturday, enlisted colleagues of Mr. Stone were celebrating all day, officials said.
“He’s a good dude, solid dude,” Mr. Knight said, adding that being called “solid” is one of the highest compliments for an airman. A practitioner of jujitsu who has a taste for strawberry caipirinhas, Mr. Stone had been planning his 26-day European vacation since he first arrived at Lajes in March, Mr. Murphy said.
Ms. Sadler was not surprised that her brother joined the struggle. Mr. Murphy said both he and Mr. Stone wanted to be paramedics and firefighters when they got out of the Air Force.
“He’s definitely one to step up and protect the people he loves,” she said. Mr. Sadler is scheduled to return to the United States on Aug. 30 to begin his senior year the next day at California State University, Sacramento, where he is studying kinesiology with an emphasis in conditioning and coaching. He is also a member of Kappa Sigma, a social fraternity, and the Philosophy Club, said Robert S. Nelsen, the university president, in a statement.
Mr. Sadler is supposed to return to the United States on Aug. 30 to begin his senior year at California State University, Sacramento, where he is studying kinesiology with an emphasis in conditioning and coaching. Ms. Sadler, 25, said her brother wanted to become a doctor and work for the National Basketball Association, preferably for his favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant is his favorite player, she said.
He is also a member of Kappa Sigma, a social fraternity, and the Philosophy Club, Robert S. Nelson, the university president, said in a statement. Mr. Skarlatos moved to Oregon, where he graduated from Roseburg High School and has been a guardsman for three years, according to The Oregonian. He had planned to visit Greece and Germany before returning Sept. 9 to Oregon, his father said. Karen Skarlatos, Alek’s stepmother, told the newspaper that the family was “very proud.”
Ms. Sadler, 25, said her brother wanted to become a doctor and work for the National Basketball Association, preferably for his favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers. “I’ve always said that I felt I could trust putting my life in Alek’s hands,” Ms. Skarlatos said. “I honestly can’t say I’m surprised that he knew what to do when faced with that kind of situation. It’s just who he is.”
She said he spent most of his time in classes and studying, and he also works for a designer outlet store. He is popular and well liked, with a low-key personality, she said.
Once a year, he throws himself a birthday party that draws more than 200 guests, she said. “He throws parties like he’s famous,” she said. “It’s amazing how he can do it.”
The three American men are scheduled to have dinner with the French president, François Hollande, on Monday, Ms. Sadler said.
Mr. Skarlatos lives in Oregon, where he graduated from Roseburg High School and has been a member of the Oregon Army National Guard for three years, according to The Oregonian.
He had returned home in July after a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, and then left for Europe on Aug. 11, his family told the newspaper.
In Amsterdam, he met up with Mr. Stone, who is stationed in the Azores Islands near Portugal, and Mr. Sadler. They had planned to stay another day in Amsterdam, but decided instead to take a Friday train to Paris, his father, Emanuel, told The Oregonian.
Mr. Skarlatos had planned to visit Greece and Germany before returning to Oregon on Sept. 9, his father said.
Karen Skarlatos, Alek’s stepmother, said the family was “very proud.”
“I’ve always said that I felt I could trust putting my life in Alek’s hands,” Ms. Skarlatos said, according to The Oregonian. “I honestly can’t say I’m surprised that he knew what to do when faced with that kind of situation. It’s just who he is.”