Three Americans and Briton who ‘gave a lesson in courage, in will, and in hope’ hailed as suspect’s father casts doubt on accusations of terrorism

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 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 tragedy and massacre by a determined gunman carrying multiple weapons and 300 bullet rounds.

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Two off-duty American soldiers, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, and 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, reportedly burst out of the toilet carrying an AK-47 and ran into their carriage, firing. Stone and his friends tackled and subdued him.

Chris Norman, 62, a British IT consultant living in France, helped restrain the man and tie his hands using his necktie. The train was carrying about 500 passengers.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Briton Chris Norman says he is amazed at being given the Légion d’honneur medal by the French president, François Hollande

Awarding them 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.”

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.”

Referring to the bravery of Sadler and Norman, he said they did not 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.”

Leaving the ceremony, Norman told TV crews: “I just did what I had to do.”

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 Frenchmen who intervened, particularly a young banker who was the first to tackle the gunman. 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 the Sorbonne university in Paris, also attempted to intervene and was badly injured by a bullet. He is 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, 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”. Khazzani has denied terrorism, telling investigators he wanted to rob the train.

In an interview on Sunday, Khazzani’s father cast doubt on the accusations facing his son. “I wasn’t on the train, but I don’t think he would be capable of doing something like that,” Mohamed el-Khazzani told El Mundo from his home in the southern Spanish city of Algeciras. “They’re saying that Ayoub is a terrorist, but I simply can’t believe that.”

He said he had not spoken to his son since March 2014, but his wife, who is in Morocco visiting family, had spoken to their son about a month ago.



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Despite reports that his son had been flagged by intelligence services in at least four European countries and had previous drug convictions in Spain, he said he had no knowledge of his son taking drugs. “He’s very religious, and doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol.” He loved fishing and playing football, he added.



He said his son had travelled to France in 2014 for a six-month contract with telecommunications company Lycamobile but within a month of starting work was let go.

“He went there because there wasn’t any work here. The only terrorism that he’s guilty of is terrorism for food, he didn’t have enough money to feed himself properly,” said the 64-year-old father of five, who works as a scrap merchant. “Why would he want to kill someone? It doesn’t make sense.”



