No, that’s not the title of an Agatha Christie novel, but rather a description of chilling events that occurred yesterday on a Thalys train and came to a dramatic halt in the north of France.

A Moroccan terrorist, carrying a Kalashnikov and other weapons, opened fire on the high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris and carrying more than 550 passengers.

I take those high-speed trains all the time. Just last December I was on that same Amsterdam-Paris run. 

How is it possible that a passenger, armed to the teeth with weapons, can freely climb aboard a train undetected?

Thank goodness for the presence and alacrity of those U.S. soldiers who had the physical strength, not to mention courage, to tackle the gunman to the ground.

It all sounds like an action film, but it’s not. It’s real.

We live in dangerous times, folks.