Alek Skarlatos

Aleksander Reed Skarlatos (born October 10, 1992) is an American former Army National Guard soldier who, along with Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and three others, stopped a gunman on a Paris-bound train travelling from Amsterdam via Brussels in August 2015.

He was awarded the United States Army's Soldier's Medal from U.S. President Barack Obama.

All six received France's highest decoration, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, from French president François Hollande.

The Americans were also awarded the medal of the city of Arras.

Skarlatos competed on season 21 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars with pro dancer Lindsay Arnold as his partner.

They finished in third place.

Skarlatos, along with his friends, portrayed themselves in the Clint Eastwood-directed movie The 15:17 to Paris, based on their autobiography, which was written with reporter Jeffrey Stern.

On August 21, 2015, Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and United States Air Force serviceman Spencer Stone, high school friends from Skarlatos' former home of Carmichael, California, were traveling together on the Thalys high-speed train 9364 from Amsterdam bound for Paris via Brussels during a European vacation.

Skarlatos was returning from serving in Afghanistan.

A 25-year-old Moroccan, Ayoub El-Khazzani, exited the train car's toilet, armed with an AKM assault rifle, a Luger pistol, and a box knife.

He carried magazines holding 270 rounds of ammunition for the assault rifle in a rucksack.

Two passengers, a Frenchman, "Damien A.," and 51-year-old Mark Moogalian, an American expatriate living in Paris, tried to disarm the gunman.

Moogalian wrested the rifle from him but was shot by the Luger while trying to protect his wife.

Stone ran toward and attacked the gunman but was slashed while trying to subdue him.

Arriving next to the struggle, Skarlatos grabbed the pistol out of El-Khazzani's hand, then picked up the rifle, striking the terrorist in the head with its muzzle.

Sixty-two-year-old British businessman Chris Norman also helped subdue the gunman.

Though badly cut, Stone - who received wrestling training in the Air Force - choked El-Khazzani until he was unconscious.

El-Khazzani was tied up and then Stone, who also had some military medical training, delivered lifesaving assistance to Moogalian by compressing an exposed, bleeding artery.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud was the mastermind of the train attack, as well as an attack in Brussels that killed 31 people, and a series of attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 in Paris, including a bombing at the night club Bataclan that killed 90 people.

Abaaoud was killed in a police raid of his hideout in Saint-Denis a few days later.

After the events of August 22, 2015, Skarlatos and his friends received international attention for their actions in thwarting the attack.

French president François Hollande awarded Skarlatos, Stone, and Sadler, as well as Norman, France's highest decoration, Knights of the Legion of Honour (Chevaliers de la Légion d'honneur).

Hollande said the men "faced [off] with terror" and that they "gave us a lesson in courage, in will, and therefore in hope."

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and British Prime Minister David Cameron praised the men for their bravery.

The White House expressed gratitude for "courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including U.S. service members, who selflessly subdued the attacker..."

U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned the three Americans, thanking them for their heroic actions.

General Philip M. Breedlove of the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, added his praise, calling the three Americans heroes for their actions which "clearly illustrate the courage and commitment our young men and women have all the time, whether they are on duty or on leave."

Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento, California, held a parade to honor Skarlatos, Sadler, Stone, and the victims of the September 11 attacks.

He was the Republican nominee for Oregon's 4th congressional district in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections, but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Peter DeFazio.

He ran again to represent Oregon in the 4th congressional district in the 2022 House elections, but was defeated by Democratic state Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle.

Aleksander Reed Skarlatos was born in Castro Valley, California.

His father, Emanuel Skarlatos, immigrated to the United States from Germany as a child.

He was raised in Sacramento County, California, where he first met Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler while attending a parochial school in Fair Oaks.

Skarlatos graduated from Roseburg High School and attended Umpqua Community College.

El-Khazzani and three of his alleged accomplices were tried in November 2020.

Moogalian, Stone, Sadler, and Skarlatos were scheduled to testify, but Stone's testimony was delayed because he was hospitalized in France for undisclosed reasons.

Skarlatos gave prime credit for preventing what could have been a mass killing to Stone, saying, "I do not feel like a hero because we were just doing what we had to to survive. I think Spencer is probably a hero because he was the first one" to take down El-Khazzani.

"We only got involved because Spencer needed our help."

El Khazzani was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murders and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.

His accomplices were found guilty as well: Bilal Chatra was sentenced to 27 years in prison; Rédouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi was sentenced to seven years, and Mohamed Bakkali was sentenced to 25 years.