Two months prior to the initial confrontation, Spencer Stone, a then-United States Air Force senior airman, along with his friends Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, stopped a gunman on a Paris-bound train travelling from Amsterdam via Brussels in August 2015. Stone was serving at the United States Air Force 65th Air Base Group at the time of the event. A 25-year-old Moroccan man, believed to be Ayoub El-Khazzani, was in train car No. 12, armed with an AKM assault rifle and equipped with 270 rounds of ammunition. After being instructed by Skarlatos, Stone tackled the armed suspect, and was stabbed in the neck and eyebrow and almost lost his thumb. The event and its aftermath received attention in the U.S. and abroad, with Stone gaining international attention and recognized by U.S. Ambassador to France Jane D. Hartley for "his actions in saving countless lives", U.S. President Barack Obama, with a ceremony held at The Pentagon to honor Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler. Stone was honored with the Airman's Medal and a Purple Heart, among other decorations and awards.