French train attack hero Spencer Stone has been stabbed, according to news reports now coming in. The details on what specifically occurred are sketchy so far, but one report says he was trying to help a friend after a bar right. Reports put him in either stable or critical condition.
UPDATE 2: The latest is that police are saying this was not an event involving terrorism. CBS Sacramento:
The Sacramento Police Department confirms that an assault occurred at the location in midtown just before 1 a.m. and are investigating. They would not say who was injured and a suspect has not been identified.
Police say the incident is “not related to a terrorist act.” Alcohol looks to be a contributing factor.
Alek Skarlatos, another one of the three France train heroes from Sacramento, tweeted “Everybody send prayers out to the stone family today.”
Posted earlier:
Spencer Stone, one of three Americans who helped foil a terror attack on a French train in August, was stabbed in Sacramento on Wednesday night, the U.S. Air Force confirmed to NBC News.
Airman First Class Stone was in stable condition on Thursday, an Air Force spokesperson said.
“He is alive and in stable condition at this time,” the spokesperson said. “We do not have any information as to the events preceding the incident.”
Ston was stabbed multiple times in the torso after a fight near some popular bars in downtown Sacramento, police told NBC affiliate KCRA.
Homicide detectives were called to the scene, the station reported, adding that a man and a woman were questioned in the attack. Police have not released a description of the suspect, the station said.
The latest CBS News update says he’s in critical condition:
U.S. Air Force Airman Spencer Stone, one of the three Americans who helped thwart a terror attack on a European train over the summer, was repeatedly stabbed Wednesday night, the Air Force confirmed to CBS News.
Stone was in surgery in critical condition Thursday morning, sources told CBS News.
The Air Force Times reports that he was stabbed ‘four times in the chest’ and was taken to a local hospital where he is being treated for injury.
The stabbing happened at 12:45am at the intersection of 21st and K in the city and the crime was so violent that two blocks of the street were shut down reports KCRA.
Initially police did not believe that Stone would be able to survive his injuries and began treating the case like a homicide.
A defense official told ABC that he was trying to protect a friend at the time.
What has not yet been released are the details. The first headlines about him being stabbed immediately bring to mind terrorist reprisal but reports also suggest it was not htat.
All expressions of certainty about what it was will remain guesswork and assumption until more details are released.
The one certainty is that Stone was (again) coming to the aid of someone in danger.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.