Firefighter Who Saved Shooting Victim Takes Boy Home In Fire Truck
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A boy who survived the shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs was released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.
Ryland Ward has been in the hospital since the November 5 shooting. The 6-year-old boy lost his stepmother and two sisters in the tragedy.
Rusty Duncan was one of the firefighters who responded to the scene of the shooting, and found Ward still alive inside of the church.
Duncan kept his promise to the boy and picked him up from the hospital in a big red fire truck.
In a Facebook post, Duncan asked people to contact him so that they could give Ward a big welcome home.
And they did!
Ryland Ward rode in the firetruck from University Medical Center in San Antonio 30 miles to his home in Sutherland Springs, passing by the scene of the Nov. 5 shooting that left more than two dozen worshippers at the First Baptist Church dead and about 20 others wounded. The attacker, Devin Patrick Kelley, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Patrol cars and other firetrucks formed a procession that escorted Ward back to the community of about 420 residents. Motorists pulled to the side of the road into town, and some stepped from their vehicles and waved at the child.
The truck then carried the child past a sheriff's barricade to his house, which was kept off-limits to the public.