Oregon teacher recounts surviving school shooting by feigning death
Teacher Becky Drury said she pretended to be dead after being shot during the October 15 attack at Silver Rail Elementary, explaining why she could not protect the children.
A 54-year-old teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, said she survived the October 15 shooting by lying still after being wounded, hoping the gunman would not fire again. Becky Drury told U.S. media that she had stepped toward a special-education classroom to see what was happening, tried to close the door, and was shot as she fell to the floor.
"I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again," Drury said.
The shooter, identified as 16-year-old former student Griffin J. John II, killed three students and a teacher before being fatally shot by a parent who entered the school. Drury described severe injuries to both arms, including a near-complete loss of her left hand, and said she was unable to rise or defend anyone.
Police noted that another teacher attempted to disarm the gunman by throwing a mobile phone and that a different teacher later protected a student by covering them, though Drury emphasized she was shot before she could act. Officials have not released a motive for the suspect, who was a special-education needs student at the school.