DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — Only Channel 2 Action News has spoken with the sister of a man who ripped an AK-47 from the hands of a man on a European train.
French investigators say Mark Moogalian grabbed that AK-47 from the gunman. But the gunman then shot Moogalian in the back with a handgun.
Three other Americans brought down the attacker and helped Moogalian survive.
They received France's highest honor Monday.
Channel 2's Carl Willis spoke Monday with Moogalian's sister, who lives in Douglasville.
[READ: Airman on Paris-bound train could get Air Force medal]
Jacqueline Moogalian-Pittman told Willis she spent time with her brother Mark this summer when he visited the States. She says her brother's actions saved lives.
"I don't know how he did it," Moogalian-Pittman said. "You're in a situation where there's nothing but panic, chaos and fear."
Moogalian-Pittman says her younger brother found the courage to step in.
"He protected his wife and he went after it. He just let it go and went after the guy," Moogalian-Pittman said.
Moogalian was on the train from Amsterdam back home to Paris.
According to his family, he wrestled the rifle away and went to get his wife but didn't know that the gunman still had a pistol.
[READ: Americans, Briton who thwarted attack get France's top honor]
The 51-year-old originally from Durham, North Carolina, was shot in the back.
"I think what they started, the gentlemen in the next car finished," Moogalian-Pittman told Willis.
The gentlemen were three other Americans, including two servicemen, who jumped in, hog-tied the shooter and tended to Moogalian's injury.
His sister says a bullet entered Mark's lung and came out through his collarbone.
"His wife is trying to communicate with us via text the best she can," Moogalian-Pittman said. "There was a second phone call where Mark has reached out to daddy, to let him know, 'I'm doing OK.'"
[READ: US airman says train attacker 'ready to fight to the end']
The other heroes are being honored, while the English instructor, who found the strength to act, recovers.
"The country was ready for positive news about what it means to be an American citizen and represent the United States," Moogalian-Pittman said. "To know that he could think that calmly, and make that decision with split seconds, blew me away. But it is Mark."
Moogalian-Pittman says the hardest part is not being able to be there during the recovery.
She told Willis her brother is alert and able to communicate as he prepares for surgery.
WSBTV
