PORTLAND, Maine -- The body of an airman who died while trying to stop an armed robbery in Arkansas has been returned home to Maine.
A procession escorted the body of 23-year-old senior airman Shawn Mckeough Jr. from Boston to a Portland funeral home Thursday evening.
The Westbrook native was stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville.
Mckeough was fatally shot after he tackled a robber at a North Little Rock gas station March 15, authorities said.
Sarah Terrano, Mckeough's girlfriend, said the couple and a few of their friends had gone to dinner before they stopped at the gas station. Terrano said she saw two young people rush in and point guns at her friends as they got on the floor while she waited in an Uber vehicle outside.
She said she knew Mckeough would intervene.
"He would have done that anywhere or anytime," Terrano said Tuesday. "He served our country the best he could."
Terrano said she saw Mckeough lunge at one of the assailants, which put him out of her sight. Then she heard a single gunshot.
Mckeough died at the scene.
Teens Drequan Robinson, Darius Stewart, Keith Lamont Harris Jr. and Keith Keshawn Harris are facing charges in the man's death.
Funeral arrangements are being made.
Information for this article was contributed by Youssef Rddad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 03/23/2019