Volvo-driving, latte-drinking elite of academia effing ROCK.Guess who FIRST tackled train terrorist?

[snagglepuss]

American academic Mark Moogalian tackled the gunman first!


snip


The mystery identity of the first heroic passenger to wrestle a weapon from the high-speed train gunman can be disclosed for the first time by The Telegraph, David Barrett writes.
Mark Moogalian, a 51-year-old professor at the Sorbonne, tackled Ayoub El-Khazzani during Friday’s bloody incident aboard an Amsterdam-Paris international service.


snip


He tackled the Kalashnikov assault rifle off El-Khazzani, who then drew a sidearm and shot him in the neck before taking back the rifle, his sister has revealed.

Three other US citizens including two military personnel, and Chris Norman, a British businessman then stepped in to disarm and overpower the assailant.

Mr Moogalian’s sister Julia said: “He made sure his wife was hidden behind a seat. She watched the whole thing happen.

“He did manage to get the weapon away from the gunman.

“But the gunman then pulled another gun and shot my brother.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11818934/France-train-attack-Moroccan-terrorist-Ayoub-El-Khazzani-linked-to-Isis-live.html




YAY PROFESSOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PeteSelman]

1. He got shot in the neck.

Is he ok?

[irisblue]

3. article from telegraph says he has shrapnel and left arm damage

brave man

[MADem]

2. He probably drives a Renault or a Smart car. Or takes the metro!

But good on him, and good on the mysterious Damian as well, for stepping up. Everyone who got off their ass and did something deserves praise.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. 'professor at the Sorbonne' seems a strange description - musician and artist

http://www.markmoogalian.com/

Mark Moogalian
Profile:
Mark Moogalian was born in Durham, North Carolina, where he spent a good part of his youth along the banks of the Eno River. When his family moved to Virginia, the James River took the Eno’s place. He started playing guitar and was singer/songwriter/guitarist for Look Like Bamboo and Javaman, two bands he founded in Richmond, Virginia, during the late eighties and early nineties. He then travelled to Europe where he busked from London to Venice, taking in the culture and writing songs. The trip to Europe was a turning point in his life. Mark later moved to France where he worked as a translator and English teacher for business professionals. In France he continued to write, record and perform music and often played in a small club in Paris called Le Gerpil. He lived on a houseboat on the Seine, the third river in his life, where he took up welding and started making abstract metal sculpture. He met Isabelle Risacher in 2002 and they were married in 2003. With her he performs currently as Secret Season.

Sites:
markmoogalian.com

http://www.discogs.com/artist/1777220-Mark-Moogalian

(definitely the same person - his wife is named in the Telegraph article)

I can't find anything connecting him to the Sorbonne before this incident - maybe he's on an arts residency? I'd say this is more "long-haired hippe beatniks rock!"

(interestingly, I get a '13 results removed due to privacy claim', being in the UK - all Google can tell me is "Confidential - A UK Court
(Private) Sent on February 19, 2015". That's just searching for "Mark Moogalian" "Sorbonne".)

[bananas]

12. Apparently he teaches English there

http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=49541

[pnwmom]

5. So, yet another American.

For once, it feels good (for the next few days or so) to have Americans in the news.

[glowing]

6. And it didn't involve him having a gun on his person!

[mountain grammy]

7. I stand in awe of these 4 brave and quick thinking men

who, no doubt stopped a blood bath.

[JI7]

8. teachers have been doing it on the us for years with the shootings

We always have

[GoCubsGo]

9. I wish he'd get as much credit and attention as the other three.

He's barely being mentioned in the US media, as far as I can see.

[smirkymonkey]

10. +1000

[spooky3]

11. Also, the first to act was a Frenchman

I believe he was the one shot in the neck (spencer stopped his bleeding) and didn't want to identified. The media said he is 28. His actions may have given the others enough time to run to assist.

I tried to find a link to the article that reported this, but couldn't. Here's a report that said the first man was stabbed rather than shot.

http://m.france24.com/en/20150822-us-servicemen-overpower-gunman-french-train-attack

WaPo implied he was shot.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/3-american-friends-tackle-and-hogtie-gunman-aboard-train-say-french-officials-families/2015/08/22/1c8cca20-48a1-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8_story.html

All were courageous and strong.

[okasha]

13. Basic classroom management.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Ex-Midlothian man shot trying to subdue France train gunman

Ex-Midlothian man shot trying to subdue France train gunman

Posted: Monday, August 24, 2015 11:12 am
BY BILL McKELWAY Richmond Times-Dispatch

Family members of a former Midlothian man hailed as a hero for being the first passenger to grab an assault rifle from a gunman aboard the high-speed train headed from Amsterdam to Paris say they are proud of Mark Moogalian and anxious to learn more about his condition after being shot while wresting the weapon Friday from Ayoub El-Khazzani.

The Telegraph of London reported that Moogalian, 51, who teaches English at the Sorbonne, tackled El-Khazzani during Friday’s train attack and grabbed his weapon before being shot through the neck. The attacker was then subdued by three vacationing Americans who have been cited for their heroism in the episode, as well as a Briton.

Moogalian, a graduate of Midlothian High School, is a member of a family of Armenian descent with deep roots in Virginia. Relatives operated a grocery for many years in the Hopewell area. ... “We couldn’t be more proud,” said an uncle, Harry Moogalian. He said in an interview Monday morning that the family is still trying to sort out the sequence of events that left the author and musician shot and hospitalized. Moogalian said the family here is still awaiting word about his nephew's condition.

Moogalian's encounter with the gunman appears to be the first confrontation in the episode that was quelled by the three Americans and Briton who Monday were given France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, by President Francois Hollande.

[sabrina 1]

16. You mean he 's a Bernie supporter and it wasn't the military personnel who made the first move?

According to the MIC/Crop Media it was all about the troops, fighting terrorism in France.

Thanks for the information. An academic disarming a gunman doesn't help promote a military intervention, whichever one we are planning next. And we are, because I keep seeing the same old war propaganda and fear mongering every time I flip channels.

[NuclearDem]

18. Actually, the first person to confront the shooter was a banker.

Then the academic, who was shot through the neck, and then the three friends, with one of them, Airman Stone, saving the academic's life by pressing down on his carotid and stopping the bleeding.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. kick

[alarimer]

19. But he wasn't on the list to get a medal, only the other four.

Or did I miss something?

I admit to not following this story all that closely.

[Stuart G]

20. Didn't the U.S. do something like this before? say in 1944? D.Day?

Or is that too long ago for people to remember? If you do not know..please, hit the link below..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings