Man who lost family in church massacre helps son heal
Chris Ward is remodeling his family home in Texas with his brother to live in with his 6-year-old son, Ryland, who survived the November 2017 church shooting that killed 26 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Chris lost his wife and two of their children. Ryland survived four gunshot wounds.
LA VERNIA, Texas — Six-year-old Ryland Ward jumps down from his Uncle Michael’s lap and bounds across the job site.
There’s chocolate ice cream, he’s heard, his favorite.
Climbing onto the minitractor parked in front of the house, Ryland holds the carton in his good hand and gnaws at the lid. He’s intent on opening it himself, but as chocolate begins to seep out the sides, he hands it to Michael Ward, who peels open the lid for him.
Feet dangling off the little machine, Ryland finally digs in.
His left knee is locked in place, inches below where a bullet entered his upper thigh. The arm on that side bends just halfway, wrapped in a medical sleeve that supports his shattered elbow. From his belly hangs a colostomy bag.
This past Thursday marked five months since the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
But the anniversary went unmarked here at the Ward family home. Ryland’s dad isn’t ready to look back on what he’s lost.
But he knows what he’s looking forward to.
“Starting over, I guess,” Chris Ward says, tilting his black cowboy hat against the midday sun.
“Trying to.”
Keeping busy
The half-eaten ice cream lies forgotten in the dirt as Ryland climbs a ramp into the house, a dog named Fluffy clutched under his good arm. His left shoe is missing.
“It got sucked into the mud!” he shrieks, laughing. He takes off at a run around the living room, a strawberry-blond blur.
This is the house where Chris grew up, where he and his brother moved when Michael was Ryland’s age. The old place has been stripped down to its original floorboards and studs, a project to keep the brothers busy and provide father and son with a fresh start.
An ex-oilfield worker and currently a truck driver, Chris has a perpetual smirk in his eyes and deep smile lines that make him look a bit older than his 33 years. He surveys the work left to be done. An old Mickey Mouse lunchbox lies on the floor; a rusted bathtub sits in a corner. Chris points out the gutted kitchen he hopes will be finished in a few months.
Chris was asleep that morning five months ago. He was resting after an overnight shift when Michael woke him in a panic. A shooter was in the church, he said, and so was Chris’ family.
The shooter was gone by the time the brothers arrived, dead after killing himself.
But his bullets took Chris’ wife, Joann, their 5-yearold daughter, Brooke, his 7-year-old stepdaughter Emily, and 23 others. Rhianna, Joann’s 9-yearold daughter, was not shot. Ryland, then 5, was hit four times. Those who survived the shooting said Joann had pushed the children under pews and thrown herself on top of them in an attempt to save them when the shooting started.