Midshipman 4th Class Roarke Baldwin was wasting time in November in a Borders bookstore, waiting for a showing of the movie “Casino Royale,” when he heard the gunshots.
“It was certainly scary,” he said.
But “I knew there would be people who needed help.”
He walked against the rush of panic-stricken shoppers racing toward the exits andfound a Secret Service agent on the floor of the food court with a gunshot wound in his leg.
Baldwin applied pressure to the wound until medics arrived. After the agent was airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, Baldwin comforted the man?s wife and two daughters, ages 4 and 13, while they were interviewed by police.
The academy?s commandant, Capt. Margaret Klein, pinned a green and orange Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal on Baldwins uniform in a ceremony Thursday honoring him for his action Nov. 18, the day of the triple shooting at the Westfield Annapolis mall.
The Secret Service agent was shot when he attempted to break up a fight in which a group of about six young men were beating up another young man, police said. They said one of the youths pulled out a gun and shot the agent, who returned fire, injuring the shooter. A bullet also struck a third person in the leg.
“There was blood everywhere,” said the Secret Service agent, who attended the ceremony but asked that his name be withheld to prevent any retaliation against his family.
“The vast majority of the people in the mall didn?t do anything. Midshipmen Baldwin came up and provided the assistance I needed to stop the bleeding.”
The agent, who is also a major in the U.S. Marines, is recovering and expects to be back in full service by next month.
At the ceremony, Baldwin?s supervisor, Lt. Derek Dryden, read from a plaque dedicated to Baldwin as dozens of midshipmen stood at attention in lines nearby.
“Midshipman Baldwin?s courageous and selfless actions beyond the call of duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service,” Dryden said.
Baldwin, a plebe from Florence, Mont., said his courage to help came from years spent scouting and from his parents, who are both registered nurses.
