He died barricading the door to keep the gunman away from his fellow soldiers in a room that wouldn’t lock.
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Ferguson has emerged as the hero of the April 2 shooting that left him and three others dead, including the shooter, and wounded 16.
He is survived by his fiancee, Kristen Haley, a specialist in the U.S. Army also stationed at Fort Hood. She was reportedly nearby when the shooting started.
“If he wasn’t the one standing there holding those doors closed, that shooter would have been able to get through and shoot everyone else,” Haley told WTSP-TV out of Tampa, Fla.
Also killed were Staff Sgt. Carlos Alberto Lazaney, 38; and Sgt. Timothy W. Owens, 37.
The gunman, who shall remain unnamed in this post, took his own life when confronted by military police.