Soldier stopped active shooter on Kansas bridge — by running him over with his truck

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — A U.S. Army soldier stationed in Kansas saved “countless lives” Wednesday when he hit a man with his pickup as the man was shooting randomly at people on a bridge near Fort Leavenworth, a police chief said.

One person was injured by the shooter, according to Leavenworth police Chief Patrick Kitchens. That person, also a soldier, was a random victim, Kitchens said.

Officers initially believed they were responding to a road rage incident on the Centennial Bridge that connects Kansas and Missouri not far from the Army base, Kitchens said. Instead, they discovered that a man had been using multiple weapons to fire randomly at vehicles. The suspect was trapped under a pickup, Kitchens said.

The soldier driving the truck, Master Sgt. David Royer, had been waiting in traffic when he saw what was happening. He said that's when his 15 years of Army training, including as a military police officer, kicked in.

“Most people in my situation would have done the same thing,” Royer said Thursday when speaking at a news conference at Fort Leavenworth.

“I knew people's lives were in danger. I needed to do something. My military training kicked in. So, I took action as I saw appropriate, and I just knew I had to do something.”

Royer used his “brand new truck” to strike the shooter, ending the encounter by pinning him underneath his truck.

“After I hit the suspect, I couldn't see him out in front of my truck, so I did not know what to think,” Royer said. “I didn't know where he was at, so I put my truck in park and quickly got out of the vehicle, looking out in front of my truck to see if I could find him and make sure I neutralized the situation immediately.

“I went around the other side of the vehicle. I saw the rifle that he was using laying on the ground. So, then I assumed that he was not a threat anymore. And my objective was just to find him, so I just crouched down, looked under my truck, I saw that he was pinned under my truck and injured.”

Royer also spotted a handgun at that point.

Police said seven bullets struck the windshield of a Ford Taurus, and two other cars were hit.

“Let’s be crystal clear, his actions yesterday were absolutely heroic,” Kitchens said. “He saved countless lives. There were people on that bridge that were innocent bystanders just traveling, there were KDOT workers on that bridge.

“He saved all of those people’s lives. His actions are extraordinary.”

Both the shooting victim and the suspect were in serious but stable condition in a Kansas City hospital, police said.

Kitchens said no motive for the shooting has been determined. The suspect is from Platte County, Missouri.

"After the incident was over, I was pretty calm," Royer said. "But when I got home, I just wanted to get everything back to normal — get to my kids, give them a hug, and then I mowed my grass, ate dinner and spent time with my family."