Relatives of the three Americans who tackled and disarmed a gunman on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris say they are proud of the men and relieved they weren't killed during those chaotic moments.
Tony Sadler said his son, Anthony Sadler, called him to describe what happened and the recognition he is receiving. He said he was first stunned and then relieved his 23-year-old son was not hurt or killed.
"I had thought that this trip, you know, going abroad and travelling for a few weeks would broaden his world view, but never did I suspect he would encounter an experience like this," Sadler told Sacramento television station KCRA.
He said his son, a senior at Sacramento State University, had planned to travel in Europe with his college friends through the end of August.
"He leaves here a young man on an excursion to broaden his world view and to have fun with his buddies, and he comes back France's national hero," Sadler said.
"He might even meet the president of France before he leaves, so I'm still wrapping my head around that," he said, laughing.
Anthony Sadler and two Sacramento-area friends, Spencer Stone, 23, and Alek Skarlatos, 22, helped subdue Ayoub El-Khazzani, a man with ties to radical Islam who was carrying a handgun and an assault weapon Friday.
The gunman slashed Stone, 23, several times with a box cutter. His mother, Joyce Eskel, said her son called her from a hospital and told her the gunman also tried to shoot him twice but the weapon didn't work.
"I'm just crying because I could've lost my son so easily," she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
"He's always been a hero to me. Now he's an actual hero. He deserves it. He put his life on the line. They all did, and I'm just very, very proud of him. So proud," she said.
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