Midlothian man prevents terrorist attack in France

A local man combatted an armed shooter on a train in France Friday, wrestling away an assault rifle and preventing what could have been a horrific terrorist attack.

Mark Moogalian, 51, who lives in Paris but is originally from Midlothian, Virginia, aided Damien A, a French banker who does not want his identity released, and wrestled away a gun from Ayoub El-Khazzani on a train from Amsterdam to Paris before El-Khazzani used another gun to shoot Moogalian in the back, The Telegraph of London reports. Three Americans -- Spencer Stone, 23, Alek Skarlatos, 22, Anthony Sadler, 23 – and Chris Norman, 62, a British businessman, assisted Moogalian and Damien A and restrained El-Khazzani.

“One [only needs to] know that Ayoub El-Khazzani was in possession of 300 rounds of ammunition and firearms to understand what we narrowly avoided, a tragedy, a massacre,” French President François Hollande said.

Moogalian is in the hospital, and is doing all right, said Isabella Risacher, Moogalian’s wife who was on the train with him.

"Because he took the bullet in the back of the neck and it came out from the front it is quite a bad wound," Risacher said.

"There's a video of him saying 'help me' -- he thought he was losing so much blood he would die,” said Julie Moogalian, Mark’s sister.

Hollande announced he would award Moogalian with France’s highest award, the Légion d'Honneur, as soon as he is well enough. Stone, Skarlatos, Sadler and Norman received the award Monday, The New York Times reports.

“Your heroism must be an example for many and a source of inspiration,” French President François Hollande said to the four men receiving the award.

Contact editor-in-chief Jack Nicholson at jack.nicholson@richmond.edu.