When Mark Moogalian saw the gunman on the train, he was the
first to rush him and tried to wrest an assault rifle from his grip.
The two men
struggled, and Moogalian was shot in the neck. The French-American collapsed to
the floor, bleeding heavily.
He made eye
contact with his wife.
"C'est
fini," Moogalian told her. "It's over."
"I really
thought he was going to die," said his wife, Isabelle Risacher Moogalian.
She told CNN her
husband played dead to avoid getting shot again.
Mark Moogalian
was one of five passengers on the Amsterdam-to-Paris train who tried to disarm
the gunman, who wielded enough weaponry to kill everyone on board.
A French prosecutor said the suspect, Ayoub El Khazzani, had an AKM assault
rifle with 270 rounds of ammunition, a Luger M80 pistol with a full magazine, a
box cutter and a water-bottle-sized container full of gasoline.
"I thought
to myself, everyone on this train is going to die," Risacher Moogalian
said.
But no one died,
thanks to four other men who helped subdue the assailant Friday.
Moogalian is
recovering at a hospital in France and could be released from the emergency
room Wednesday, his wife said.
Once he's
recovered, he will be rewarded with the Legion of Honor, France's highest
recognition.
The four other
men who helped bring down the gunman have already received the Legion of Honor:Briton
Chris Norman and Americans Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone and Alek
Skarlatos.
And the awards
keep coming.
Skarlatos, a
specialist with the Oregon National Guard, will receive the Soldier's Medal,
the U.S. Army's highest award for acts of heroism not involving actual conflict
with an enemy.
The 22-year-old
"forcefully wrestled the two firearms from the gunman's possession,"
the Army said. "As the gunman fought relentlessly, wielding a box-cutting
razor, SPC Skarlatos seized the assailant's own rifle to employ as a blunt
weapon."
Skarlatos, on a
monthlong break after serving in Afghanistan, was on vacation with his longtime
friends Sadler and Stone when the trio became international heroes.
Stone, a U.S.
Air Force serviceman, has been nominated for the Airman's Medal, the Air Force
equivalent of the Army's Soldier's Medal.
After Moogalian
was shot, Stone rushed the gunman, getting slashed several times with a box
cutter in the process. He almost had his thumb cut off.
Even with his
injuries, the Airman first class tended to Moogalian and his gunshot wound,
Risacher Moogalian told CNN.
"My husband
was lying on the floor," she said. "Spencer was next to him, and he
was bleeding, too."
She said Stone
put his finger on her husband's wound and spoke to him: 'Hey man, so tell me
where you're from. So you are from Virginia? I'm from California. Everything
will be OK.' "
Risacher
Moogalian said she believes her husband would be dead if not for Stone's help.
"Yes, I'm
sure because he lost a tremendous amount of blood, and it saved his life."
Stone's commander: 'They are heroes'
On Wednesday, Stone's Air Force
commander told reporters that the airman first class will be able to return to
full duty in the coming months, despite the severity of his injuries.
"His wounds
are healing. He's in good spirits," Lt. Col. Richard Smith said at
Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Stone is receiving medical care.
In a statement
read by Smith, Stone said he believed others would have done what he did to
help to subdue the gunman last Friday.
"It seemed
the only option I had. I do know that the extensive Air Force medical training
I received allowed me to provide first aid to a fellow passenger and
potentially save his life, and for that I am grateful," Stone's statement
read.
But Smith said
Stone and others on the train were heroes.
"There are
a lot of men and women who got off that train last Friday and went home to
their friends and families because of the actions they took. They are heroes.
Plain and simple," said Smith, who is visiting Stone at Ramstein.
French
prosecutor Francois Molins said El
Khazzani, the suspected gunman, carried hundreds of rounds of ammunition with
him.
Before he
assembled his weapon in a restroom between two train cars, El Khazzani sat on
the train listening to a YouTube file of "an individual calling his
followers to combat and urging them to take up arms in the name of the
Prophet," Molins said, saying this was indication of his terrorist intent.
A judicial
investigation has been opened, Molins said.
The 25-year-old
Moroccan has been indicted on charges of attempted murder and membership in a
terrorist organization, the prosecutor said, because the gunman allegedly
wanted to kill all the passengers on the train.
The indictment also includes a charge of possession and carrying
of weapons. All the charges are under French terrorism law.
But the suspect's lawyer told CNN affiliate BFMTV that her
client denies he was trying to launch a terror attack. Instead, attorney Sophie
David said, he boarded the train with the intention of robbing passengers.
David has since
said she no longer wants to speak to the media and has not returned CNN's
calls.
Molins said El
Khazzani has invoked his right to remain silent after days of "evasive
answers."
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