France train hero stabbed in California

US airman Spencer Stone, who helped subdue an attacker on a French train in August, was in a stable condition last night after being stabbed in California, a US air force spokesman said.

Stone was being treated in a hospital in the Sacramento area, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Karns said, adding that details were sketchy.

Stone is assigned to the Travis air force base in California.

Lt Col Karns said the matter was being handled by local law enforcement officials.

He had no details on the nature or exact location of the stabbing.

Stone, aged 23, and two of his childhood friends from Sacramento, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler, stopped a gunman on a Paris-bound passenger train in August, receiving worldwide accolades and gaining sudden celebrity.

US president Barack Obama met with the three men last month, praising them for their quick thinking and courage and calling them “the very best of America”.

They were also awarded France’s highest honour by president François Hollande.

The three have appeared on late-night talk shows and received a hometown parade in their honour since subduing the attacker while on holiday in Europe.

Stone, who has been acclaimed for his aggressive role in disarming the gunman, had undergone medical treatment at a military base in Germany for a lacerated thumb and other injuries he suffered in the attack.

Skarlatos is scheduled to appear on ABC television’s Dancing With The Stars, which he was rehearsing for when a gunman killed nine people at the Oregon community college he attends last week.