PARIS — Three people were wounded, including two seriously, when a gunman opened fire with an automatic weapon on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris Friday, officials said.
The suspect was arrested after the train stopped in Arras, 115 miles (185 kilometers north of Paris, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said on French television BFM. Passengers were evacuated and police have secured the area.
The local paper Voix du Nord reported that two Marines who were traveling on the train helped to apprehend the gunman. The paper reported that the men were wounded in the fray, one by gunfire and one by a knife the gunman was carrying.
A spokesman for Marine Forces Europe, Capt. Richard Ulsh, said he could not immediately confirm that the two men were Marines, but said he could confirm they were Americans. It's not clear from the reports why the men were traveling in Europe.
Two of the victims were in critical condition, according to a statement from the office of President Francois Hollande.
The suspect is a 26-year-old Moroccan, said Sliman Hamzi, an official with police union Alliance, said on French television i-Tele.
Christophe Piednoel, a spokesman for national railway operator SNCF, said the suspect was armed with an automatic rifle and a knife.
France's interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve was en route to Arras.
