Silver Rail Elementary School teacher Becky Drury said she was shot as she tried to shut her classroom door in the Oct. 15 attack in Bend, Oregon, which killed four victims; the suspect also died at the scene.
A family friend provided Drury’s statement to OPB. She said she went to see what was happening, saw the gunman and returned to her classroom. As she turned to shut the door, he was already there, she wrote. “I was shot before I had any chance to act,” Drury said. She described a wound to her left hand that came close to severing it and a serious injury to her other arm. She said she could not get up or protect herself or anyone else. Drury said she chose to “pretend to be dead” so the gunman would not shoot again. She made the account public because she wanted the events and her actions to be accurately understood.
The Bend Police Department identified the shooter as 16-year-old former student Griffin J. John II. The department said the four victims killed were three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert. Drury and a 7-year-old student were wounded. Police described Drury’s injuries as serious but not life-threatening. John also died at the scene.
Police said another teacher threw a cellphone at John and struggled with him to take control of the firearm. The teacher was not injured. A 36-year-old man whose children attended the school entered the building and shot John several times, police said. EconoTimes previously covered the police account of the classroom confrontation.
The district said Silver Rail would have no classes for students Oct. 26-30 as it worked with staff and families on a return-to-learning plan. The Boys & Girls Club offered Silver Rail families 150 weekday child-care openings.
