Fairfield, CA — Just weeks ago, U.S. Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone was tending to stab wounds after famously helping thwart a gun attack on a European train, feted internationally as a hero.
Thursday he was in serious condition at a California hospital, having been stabbed again — this time during a night out with friends in an altercation for which he faces no criminal blame, officials say.
Stone was stabbed more than once in a confrontation with two males in midtown Sacramento before 1 a.m. Thursday after he and four friends visited bars in the area, Sacramento Deputy Police Chief Ken Bernard told reporters.
He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center with significant, but apparently non-life-theatening, stab wounds, Bernard said.
Stone, stationed at nearby Travis Air Force Base, was in serious condition late Thursday morning, the hospital said.
“The family of Airman Spencer Stone appreciates the outpouring of love and support,” UC Davis Health Systems said.
Bernard declined to detail what led to the stabbing. He said police don’t believe it had anything to do with Stone’s celebrity, and a conversation between Stone’s group — a male friend and three female friends — and another group somewhere in midtown led to the assault “down the block.”
“At this point we have no reason to believe Mr. Stone is in any kind of (legal) trouble,” Bernard said.
The assailants fled. Police said they’re looking for two Asian males who were wearing blue jeans and white T-shirts, and were linked to a dark gray or black 2009-2012 Toyota Camry.
Bernard said he didn’t know whether Stone had been drinking, though others in his party had been.
Train hero
Stone was one of five men who officials say stopped a gunman from attacking passengers of an Amsterdam-to-Paris train in August.
Stone rushed the gunman and was slashed several times with a box cutter in the process, almost severing this thumb, officials said.
He also tended to one of his fellow heroes, French-American Mark Moogalian. The latter was shot while confronting the gunman, and Stone, after the gunman was subdued, was credited with helping stop Moogalian’s bleeding.
All five were celebrated. Stone, Moogalian and the other three — Briton Chris Norman and Stone’s two American friends, Anthony Sadler and Army National Guard Spc. Alek Skarlatos — received France’s highest recognition, the Legion of Honor.
Skarlatos parlayed his fame to a spot on this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC.
He took to Twitter Thursday to ask for prayers for his friend.
“Everybody send prayers out to the Stone family today,” his tweet reads.
The suspect in the train assault, Ayoub El Khazzani, 25, of Morocco, was charged in France with attempted murder, attempted mass murder and membership in a terrorist organization. He is accused of intending to kill the train’s passengers.
