NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — When the Tide rolled into the MacArthur Square station in downtown Norfolk around 10:40 p.m. on the night of Dec. 28, it was a stop that may have saved a teenager’s life.

Norfolk Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Moore, a graduate of Cox High School in Virginia Beach, was on patrol with a Norfolk Police officer on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk. It’s a part-time beat he has worked since May 2022.

“We were driving around and we heard gunshots that seemed to be close by,” said Moore, who spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. “So we went into that direction and we were flagged down by somebody [a person] nearby.”

Inside the Tide car, a 14-year-old boy was bleeding from a gunshot wound.

“So Officer White and I, we made our way to the train and noticed the victim laying down, and so we rendered first aid,” said Moore in an interview. “… First of all, my training from here [Norfolk Sherriff’s Department], you know, kicked in and I moved the victim to a spot where we could assess him.”

Norfolk Fire and Rescue was enroute.

“So I noticed he had a wound,” Moore said. “So I ended up applying a tourniquet where I thought was a good point. I used gauze from my first aid kit to try to apply pressure and control the bleeding as best as I could.”

Regina Mobley: Did you see fear in this young man’s eyes?

Ryan Moore: I did. While I was trying to control the bleeding, I kept on trying to talk to him to assure him that everything was going to be OK. We were trying our best and try to get his name and his age, while just trying to keep him responsive.

Moore knows that fear firsthand. In August 2022, he was shot in a night of violence outside a now-closed club.

Regina Mobley: Did you get similar first aid treatment from the scene?

Ryan Moore: So I applied my own tourniquet in 2022.

For that incident, Moore was named Deputy of the Year. Sheriff Joe Baron said Moore may secure that honor again.

“They’re responding to any situation in the community,” Baron said. “He’s living up to our core values and our mission and living up to what we hope Norfolk’s sheriff’s office is all about.”