Thalys attack: "I was shot in the back", remembers the passenger who disarmed El Khazzani

Mark Moogalian is lying on the floor.

The thick carpet of the Thalys turns black with the thick blood spurting from its neck.

His life is on hold.

“I had lost consciousness,” he recalls.

Like in a dream, I found myself in my first house.

I saw my mother again, whom I had lost two months earlier.

And then I heard my own voice say to me

I had the choice: either I stayed there with my mother, or I came home apologizing to her.

I chose to go back on the train.

The pain and chaos returned.

"

On August 21, 2015, Mark Moogalian was seriously injured during the abortive attack on the Thalys Amsterdam-Paris, the alleged perpetrator of which, Ayoub El Khazzani, has been tried since Monday by the Special Assize Court of Paris along with three others. men.

Returning from the beyond, the 56-year-old Franco-American teacher testifies at the bar this Thursday afternoon.

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In a soft voice tinged with a strong American accent, the man in a black suit over a white shirt and red tie looks back in detail on this grueling journey.

Comfortably seated alongside his wife Isabelle and their little dog, he was intrigued to see, at the end of the afternoon, a passenger entering the bathroom with his suitcase.

A good ten minutes later, still not seeing him come out, he approaches the platform where another traveler, Damien A., is patient when the door opens.

"It's like I'm floating in the air"

“I see a man with big eyes and a Kalashnikov on his right shoulder.

We all look at each other for a few seconds and when I see Damien grabbing him by the neck, I understand it's for real.

"His first instinct is to warn his wife.

"He told me

" testifies in turn this woman elegantly dressed in a long peach-colored coat.

“I saw the barrel of a rifle, I understood immediately.

I didn't go very far because I wanted to die with my husband, ”she sobs.

Mark Moogalian has already returned to the fight.

His memories are very vague, except that he manages to seize, without knowing how, the Kalashnikov of Ayoub El Khazzani.

“I said in English

(

), he recalls.

I took three steps and I was shot in the back.

There was a burst of blood and it was as if I was floating in the air.

I said to myself I'm

But, at the same time, I was happy to have led the life I had had so far.

"

After crawling, the fifty-something takes refuge under a seat.

"I thought I was going to take a bullet in the head but nothing happened," he continues.

I just heard metallic noises.

One hypothesis is that the terrorist's weapon jammed.

Still aware, he realizes that passengers - the three American heroes - are in the process of overpowering El Khazzani.

"I was happy because the cavalry had arrived," said Mark Moogalian with a touch of humor.

Paranoia and sleep disturbances

The teacher is very seriously hurt.

The bullet fired by Ayoub El Khazzani's pistol entered his back before exiting through the neck.

His wife joined him by his side.

“He told me:

(

).

I did not understand.

He repeated saying:

.

I saw the blood in her neck and I understood, delivers this former teacher converted into coaching.

I had no idea what to do.

"

Mark Moogalian's salvation will come from Spencer Stone, the first American to intervene to subdue the attacker.

The US Air Force soldier stuck two fingers in his compatriot's wound to stop the bleeding.

"Spencer kept telling him that it was going to be okay, that they were going to have beers together," says Isabelle Moogalian.

At one point he asked him if he wanted to pray.

Mark said no and I understood he didn't want to die.

The Franco-American will finally be taken care of once the Thalys has arrived in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), after 20 long minutes.

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Since this experience at the frontiers of existence, Mark Moogalian has moved forward even if he sometimes suffers from sleep disorders or attacks of paranoia of which he is not very proud, like this time when he did not dared to give his contact details to a North African squash partner - the game finally took place. His thwarted passion for the guitar bores him more. Due to his injury, his index finger and thumb lost sensitivity and did not always respond as they should. "I can no longer make certain basic agreements," he regrets. But he adapted. And did not give up: “Anyway, I have to play! "