A 6-year-old boy was among dozens of churchgoers shot in the tragic Sutherland Springs massacre back in November. After spending two months in the hospital, he was given a heartwarming Texas homecoming with a special fire truck ride from the volunteer firefighter who saved his life.
On November 5th, a gunman opened fire in the rural First Baptist Church, claiming the lives of 26 parishioners. The massacre was deemed the worst mass shooting in Texas history. 6-year-old Ryland Ward was among the injured, struck in the stomach, arms, and leg. He was found and brought to safety by volunteer firefighter Rusty Duncan.
“I was just checking for survivors, and I felt a little tug on my pant leg,” Duncan told the San Antonio Express-News. “I looked down and a little hand was coming from under somebody.” That somebody was Ryland’s stepmother, Joann Ward, who lost her life attempting to shield him from the gunfire.
Duncan rushed Ryland to San Antonio’s University Hospital where he had to undergo multiple surgeries. Duncan and his family visited Ryland throughout his two-month stay at the hospital and made him a special promise: that he would take him for a ride in his fire truck once the doctors cleared him to go home.