From left to right: Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler.
Posted on 08/24/2015 7:37:11 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
...Skarlatos, a specialist in the National Guard, looked up and saw the gunman.
Skarlatos, who was returning from a deployment in Afghanistan, looked over at the powerfully built Stone, a martial arts enthusiast. “Let’s go, go!” he shouted....
There was no mistaking the man’s determination, Stone said. “He seemed like he was ready to fight to the end, and so were we,” he told reporters.
With Skarlatos close behind, Stone grabbed the gunman’s neck, stunning him. But the gunman fought back furiously, slashing with his blade, slicing Stone in the neck and hand and nearly severing his thumb. Stone did not let go....
Skarlatos grabbed the gunman’s Luger pistol and threw it to the side. Incongruously, the gunman yelled at the men to return it, even as Stone was choking him....
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....
Skarlatos ... made a series of startling discoveries: The suspect’s guns had malfunctioned, and he had not had the competence to fix them.
“He had pulled the trigger on the AK. The primer was just faulty, so the gun didn’t go off, luckily,” Skarlatos said. “And he didn’t know how to fix it, which is also very lucky.” In addition, the gunman had not been able to load his own handgun: “There was no magazine in it, so he either dropped it accidentally or didn’t load it properly, so he was only able to get what appeared to be one shot off,” Skarlatos said.
Bleeding heavily, Stone went to the aid of a gunshot victim, Sadler said. “Even though he was injured, he went to help the other man who was injured,” he said. “Without his help, he would have died.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
When I saw those faces on social media, they were all saying there were two Marines and an airman.
memo: don’t grab a lunatic by the neck and put yourself within range of his grasp - just bash his brain out or forcefully tackle him face first
The original story...from the first couple of hours...stated Marines. I think around eight hours after the event...they all started to correct the matter.
I would say this...bearing in mind about the gun malfunction and lack of knowledge from the dimwit on handling the weapon...the three guys involved were awful lucky. This could have gone in a different way with one or more dead from the event.
...but they ran to the sound of the guns anyway. That’s the definition of hero.
There are only two ways these things go; you dead or incapacitated or the shooter dead or incapacitated. You are already dead so you always fight your way out of the kill zone. To do nothing is to guarantee your death.
I’m glad that three Americans prevented a maniac jihadi from shooting people on a train. This could have been real bad.
I’m not surprised that it was Americans who tackled the POS - this is typical American spirit, something that the Belgians and French could learn a lesson from.
According to the report, it was a Frenchman who first threw himself on the terrorist. It’s not clear what happened to him later, but that action bought precious seconds for the other heroes to effect the takedown.
Yup, that was the only shot this POS managed to get off (in the article)
It seems to me that a bad primer and a dumb ass terrorist wannabe slowed down the action so the brave US guys could rush him. The cheese eating french monkeys simply cowered in fear.
some 100 to 200 Europeans on a train and Americans respond (with violence I might add)
.....well now that that's over go back to your bases and keep out of sight of us cultured people, you ruffians, cowboys, angry militarists. .>V<.
It should be noted, this morning in France...they gave the three the French Legion of Honor. It only took 72 hours for the French to hustle up the ceremony and award the medal to the three.
The US Air Force probably will give the airman a medal....but it’ll probably take sixty days to write the citation and get it approved through a dozen-odd generals. I doubt that the President will invite them to the White House, but stranger things have happened and he might want the positive press coverage.
COWARDS die a thousand deaths -
The VALIANT only taste of death but once.
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