Spencer Stone, hero in France train attack, is stabbed in Sacramento
Spencer Stone, one of three Americans who
stopped a suspected terror attack on a train in France in August, was
stabbed early Thursday during an altercation in Sacramento and is in
serious condition, officials said.
Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman from Carmichael, Calif., was the first American to tackle a gunman aboard the Paris-bound train over the summer. He and his two friends were quickly hailed as heroes and celebrated by President Obama and French President Francois Hollande.
Thursday’s stabbing, which took place around 12:46 a.m. near 21st and K streets, was part of a “very unfortunate altercation between two groups of folks who were enjoying the nightlife” in Sacramento’s midtown area, Deputy Police Chief Ken Bernard told reporters.
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Stone was stabbed multiple times in the upper body but is expected to survive, according to police. Bernard said that the stabbing was “not related to terrorism in any way,” and that there’s no indication that whoever stabbed Stone knew who he was.
The airman was out with four friends, one male and three female, and had a run-in with two or three men, Bernard said.
“There was a dispute that led to the altercation,” he said, although he did not say what the dispute was about. “There were conversations, and then it continued down the block where the stabbing took place.”
Police have not named any suspects, but they are seeking two men believed to have fled in a dark Toyota Camry.
An employee of the nearby Badlands Sacramento nightclub said in an email that Stone left the club about 45 minutes before the attack.
Stone is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center.
A clerk at the A&P liquor store at the intersection where the stabbing occurred said he saw video of it from the store’s street surveillance camera.
“Pretty much all you see on the tape is the altercation. They are in the middle of the street fighting, like in the middle of the intersection,” Bryan Romandia said.
“There’s like kind of going back and forth,” he said, “and then you see a guy lunge and he kind of gets stabbed.
“You see discolorment,” he said, indicating an area on his own chest, “and then they all kind of disperse.”
Security footage is not as plentiful as cameras on the street would suggest. For instance, the two video cameras mounted on a print shop that would have had a clear view of the beginning of the altercation "are fake," an employee said.
Still, police detectives were inside the shop midday Thursday, talking to the owner.
The part of Sacramento where Stone was stabbed is home to a number of nightclubs.
Scott Kearns, 56, who runs a smoke shop on the same block during the day and manages a club on weekends, said the area is congested late at night and there are frequent altercations involving young people who have consumed too much alcohol.
“We don’t get a lot of stabbings, but we get a lot of assaults, you know, drunk, stupid people,” Kearns said. “It’s been getting worse.”
Terry Sidie, longtime owner of the Faces nightclub at 20th and K streets, said the neighborhood was pretty rough three decades ago. But after he opened Faces, he said, other bars followed and the neighborhood began to flourish.
“Alcohol makes some people stupid,” Sidie said, “but we have enough security to cover that.” He said that each of the bars typically has several security guards on staff and that he was surprised the stabbing happened when it did — Wednesdays are typically a slow night.
“On the weekends, 3,000 people probably dump out onto that corner,” Sidie said. “But I have never been touched, and I’ve been there now for over 30 years.”
He said he’s considering approaching other business owners to propose pooling resources and hiring a marked security car to patrol at night to help everyone feel safer.
The stabbing comes less than two months after Stone, along with his childhood friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, thwarted an attack aboard a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris.
In that incident, Stone was awakened by the sound of a gunshot in their railway carriage. He looked up and saw an assailant at the end of the car holding an AK-47. The friends ran down the length of the carriage and tackled the gunman. Stone locked him in a chokehold while Skarlatos snatched his gun away.
With the help of a British businessman, the Americans hogtied the attacker with a necktie. But Stone, trained as a paramedic, noticed a nearby passenger who apparently had been hit by a bullet and was bleeding profusely from the neck.
Ignoring his own injuries, including a nearly severed thumb, Stone found the wound and stanched the flow.
A family friend, Janet Kampouris, who spoke on behalf of Stone’s mother after the train attack, said she was awakened Thursday by a reporter who called to ask her about the stabbing news.
“I’m still stunned,” Kampouris said. “I’m waiting, like everyone else, to hear more. I’m in total shock.”
Stone’s father, Brian Stone, said he was not available to comment.
Last week, another of the three Americans who thwarted the French train attack was in the news. After a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon that left nine people dead, Skarlatos revealed that he had been enrolled at the college this semester.
Skarlatos said on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that had he not agreed to compete on “Dancing With the Stars” this season, he would have been on campus the day of the shooting — “I had classes picked out and everything.”
Mai-Duc reported from Los Angeles and Megerian and St. John from Sacramento. Times staff writers Joseph Serna in Los Angeles and W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.
ALSO:Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman from Carmichael, Calif., was the first American to tackle a gunman aboard the Paris-bound train over the summer. He and his two friends were quickly hailed as heroes and celebrated by President Obama and French President Francois Hollande.
Thursday’s stabbing, which took place around 12:46 a.m. near 21st and K streets, was part of a “very unfortunate altercation between two groups of folks who were enjoying the nightlife” in Sacramento’s midtown area, Deputy Police Chief Ken Bernard told reporters.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>
Stone was stabbed multiple times in the upper body but is expected to survive, according to police. Bernard said that the stabbing was “not related to terrorism in any way,” and that there’s no indication that whoever stabbed Stone knew who he was.
The airman was out with four friends, one male and three female, and had a run-in with two or three men, Bernard said.
“There was a dispute that led to the altercation,” he said, although he did not say what the dispute was about. “There were conversations, and then it continued down the block where the stabbing took place.”
Police have not named any suspects, but they are seeking two men believed to have fled in a dark Toyota Camry.
An employee of the nearby Badlands Sacramento nightclub said in an email that Stone left the club about 45 minutes before the attack.
Stone is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center.
A clerk at the A&P liquor store at the intersection where the stabbing occurred said he saw video of it from the store’s street surveillance camera.
“Pretty much all you see on the tape is the altercation. They are in the middle of the street fighting, like in the middle of the intersection,” Bryan Romandia said.
“There’s like kind of going back and forth,” he said, “and then you see a guy lunge and he kind of gets stabbed.
“You see discolorment,” he said, indicating an area on his own chest, “and then they all kind of disperse.”
Security footage is not as plentiful as cameras on the street would suggest. For instance, the two video cameras mounted on a print shop that would have had a clear view of the beginning of the altercation "are fake," an employee said.
Still, police detectives were inside the shop midday Thursday, talking to the owner.
The part of Sacramento where Stone was stabbed is home to a number of nightclubs.
Scott Kearns, 56, who runs a smoke shop on the same block during the day and manages a club on weekends, said the area is congested late at night and there are frequent altercations involving young people who have consumed too much alcohol.
“We don’t get a lot of stabbings, but we get a lot of assaults, you know, drunk, stupid people,” Kearns said. “It’s been getting worse.”
Terry Sidie, longtime owner of the Faces nightclub at 20th and K streets, said the neighborhood was pretty rough three decades ago. But after he opened Faces, he said, other bars followed and the neighborhood began to flourish.
“Alcohol makes some people stupid,” Sidie said, “but we have enough security to cover that.” He said that each of the bars typically has several security guards on staff and that he was surprised the stabbing happened when it did — Wednesdays are typically a slow night.
“On the weekends, 3,000 people probably dump out onto that corner,” Sidie said. “But I have never been touched, and I’ve been there now for over 30 years.”
He said he’s considering approaching other business owners to propose pooling resources and hiring a marked security car to patrol at night to help everyone feel safer.
The stabbing comes less than two months after Stone, along with his childhood friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, thwarted an attack aboard a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris.
In that incident, Stone was awakened by the sound of a gunshot in their railway carriage. He looked up and saw an assailant at the end of the car holding an AK-47. The friends ran down the length of the carriage and tackled the gunman. Stone locked him in a chokehold while Skarlatos snatched his gun away.
With the help of a British businessman, the Americans hogtied the attacker with a necktie. But Stone, trained as a paramedic, noticed a nearby passenger who apparently had been hit by a bullet and was bleeding profusely from the neck.
Ignoring his own injuries, including a nearly severed thumb, Stone found the wound and stanched the flow.
A family friend, Janet Kampouris, who spoke on behalf of Stone’s mother after the train attack, said she was awakened Thursday by a reporter who called to ask her about the stabbing news.
“I’m still stunned,” Kampouris said. “I’m waiting, like everyone else, to hear more. I’m in total shock.”
Stone’s father, Brian Stone, said he was not available to comment.
Last week, another of the three Americans who thwarted the French train attack was in the news. After a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon that left nine people dead, Skarlatos revealed that he had been enrolled at the college this semester.
Skarlatos said on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that had he not agreed to compete on “Dancing With the Stars” this season, he would have been on campus the day of the shooting — “I had classes picked out and everything.”
Mai-Duc reported from Los Angeles and Megerian and St. John from Sacramento. Times staff writers Joseph Serna in Los Angeles and W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.
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end quote from:
| Los Angeles Times | - |
Spencer
Stone, one of three Americans hailed as heroes for stopping a suspected
terror attack on a Paris-bound train August, was stabbed early Thursday
in Sacramento.
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