Becky Drury, a 54-year-old Silver Rail Elementary School staff member wounded in Bend, Oregon's Oct. 15 shooting, said she had no chance to act, addressing conflicting accounts of her role.
In a statement released Wednesday, Drury said she went outside to see what was happening. She saw the shooter and ran back toward her classroom, she said. By then he had reached its entrance. Drury said he shot her as she tried to close the door. She fell and could not get up.
Drury said the wound to her left hand came close to cutting it off, and the shot also seriously injured her other arm. On the floor, she said, she could not defend herself. Her only option was to “pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again.”
Drury said she released the account to correct conflicting reports about her actions. Bend Police's public account did not name the teacher who confronted the attacker, so it does not identify Drury as that person.
Police said the teacher threw a cellphone at the attacker, tackled him and struggled to take his firearm. A 36-year-old bystander then shot the attacker several times, the department said. EconoTimes previously detailed the police account of the classroom confrontation.
The attack killed three children, ages five, eight and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher, Bend Police said. Drury and a seven-year-old child were taken to hospital with critical injuries. In an Oct. 16 update, police said Drury's injuries were serious but not life-threatening and reported that she was at St. Charles Bend at the time.
Bend Police recorded the incident at 3:59 p.m. ET (19:59 UTC) on Oct. 15. Police said the investigation continued, including how the attacker obtained the weapon.
