{"id":1681,"date":"2026-02-13T06:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/1681\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T06:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:34:10","slug":"alabama-mother-speaks-out-after-being-chased-by-man-on-train-in-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/1681\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama mother speaks out after being chased by man on train in Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS, Be (WSFA<\/a>) – An overseas birthday celebration trip turned into a terrifying experience for two Alabama mothers and their two 12-year-old daughters when a man with a knife approached their group aboard a train in Brussels, Belgium in early February.<\/p>\n

According to Amanda Hardy, one of the mothers, the man first asked whether the group was American. When they did not respond to his next question, the situation escalated rapidly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked if we like ICE. And we didn\u2019t respond. And then his next action was to draw a knife,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

Hardy recorded video of what she described as an approximately 18-inch knife wrapped with a blue scarf. During the encounter, the man made additional threatening statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew he had a knife. He also said \u2018I can shoot too\u2019 \u2014 but when he said that, my back was to him and we were trying to escape,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

The video shows the group fleeing through the train while screaming for help. It took them three minutes to exit the train, Hardy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know how far he was chasing us, if he was chasing us at all, if he disappeared into the crowd or sat down. But he stood there and acted as if he had done nothing,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

Four bystanders approached the group after they exited the train, offering comfort and assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were literally angels on earth. They stayed with us until we felt okay or at least, we thought we felt okay,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

One bystander suggested the group contact the U.S. Embassy. Hardy spent 40 minutes making separate calls to report the incident and request assistance with their travel plans.<\/p>\n

Hardy expressed disappointment with the embassy\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was literally pleading with our U.S. Embassy, saying someone tried to kill us because we\u2019re American. Can you please send someone? But the response was, \u2018It\u2019s the weekend,\u2019 and since you have your passports, this is generally not something we do,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

Hardy also reported that while some Brussels police officers were helpful and compassionate, others were uncooperative and provided no assistance when the group needed to board the same train again to continue to Bruges.<\/p>\n

Despite the traumatic ordeal, Hardy is speaking publicly to advocate for changes to emergency protocols involving children abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a review and change of emergency protocol when children are involved. We cannot abandon children in a foreign country when someone attempts to kill them because they\u2019re American. We have to do better,\u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n

Police informed the group that the man on the train was arrested and that officers suspected he was intoxicated, Hardy said. Hardy also expressed concern that the man may not have acted alone.<\/p>\n

WSFA 12 News contacted the U.S. Embassy in Brussels and Belgian police for additional comment but has not received a response. The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n

Not reading this story on the WSFA News App? Get news alerts FASTER and FREE in the Apple App Store<\/a> and the Google Play Store<\/a>! <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WSFA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS, Be (WSFA) – An overseas birthday celebration trip turned into a terrifying experience for two Alabama mothers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1610,1612,7,18,1611,144,1613,1615,1614],"class_list":{"0":"post-1681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-alabama","9":"tag-amanda-hardy","10":"tag-belgium","11":"tag-brussels","12":"tag-incident","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-u-s-embassy","15":"tag-wfsa","16":"tag-wsfa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}