BY REBECCA SHEEHAN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A 30-year-old weapons sergeant from Ramsey had his life cut short at the hands of an attacker dressed in an Afghan National Army uniform in Afghanistan on Saturday – just shy a month from coming back home to visit family.

The Record reported that Staff Sgt. Timothy Raymond McGill was shot dead while serving with the Rhode Island National Guard as a weapons specialist conducting missions
against the Taliban and training Afghan troops so they could protect their country against insurgents. McGill, who stood at 6 feet 6 inches and 285  pounds and played football and hockey at Ramsey High School, was the second service member lost by Ramsey in recent months; in May, the borough bade farewell to Eric Christian, a 39-year-old Marine who was killed by an Afghan army soldier ‑ totaling 27 men who have been lost from North Jersey.

“He graduated high school in June and he went into the Marine Corps in August,” said his father, Raymond McGill, a retired Mahwah police detective to the Star-Ledger. “He was a hero.”

According to CBS New York, the shooting took place in Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia province, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, an Afghan Defense Ministry
spokesman, said. The area, near the border with Pakistan, has been a front line in fighting with the Taliban and other militants.

"Sadly, today we realized the sixth death of a Rhode Island National Guard Soldier in a combat zone since 9/11,” Major Gen. Kevin R. McBride, adjutant general and commanding general of the Rhode Island National Guard, stated. “We are once again reminded of the enduring sacrifice our soldiers and airmen have made, and continue to make, in service
to this great country."