Oregon School Shooting: Teacher Describes Playing Dead

Becky Drury, a 54-year-old teacher seriously wounded in a school shooting in Bend, Oregon, has described pretending to be dead in the hope that the gunman would not shoot her again. Her public account came on Wednesday, October 21, six days after the attack at Silver Rail Elementary School on October 15.

Drury said she first ran to see what was happening after realizing something was wrong. She then saw the shooter and rushed back into the classroom. She said she was shot at close range while trying to shut the door. Drury's account and The Associated Press both reported her account of the sequence.

She said her left hand was almost completely severed and her other arm was badly injured. The Guardian reported that her injuries were initially described as serious but not life-threatening.

She said she was shot before she had any chance to act.

The gunman was Griffin J John II, a 16-year-old former student who was armed with a shotgun. He shot six people, killing 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert and three children. Five-year-old Rhoam Summer was among the children killed. Seven-year-old Saylor Graham was also shot.

According to The Guardian, another teacher threw her phone at the shooter and tackled him, and then a parent fatally shot the gunman.

Drury released a statement about the shooting while still in hospital. In it, she said her heart is broken for everyone affected by the tragedy. WBAL reported that she survived multiple gunshot wounds.

Authorities have described some details of the shooter's background. The Statesman Journal reported that he had attended Silver Rail as a special education student, but was not enrolled in the Bend-La Pine school district at the time of the shooting. The Bend Police Department said the shotgun was purchased legally.

The city of Bend held a press conference on the day of the shooting and offered free community support services. Bend Fire & Rescue canceled its annual open house on October 17, and Bend schools canceled all activities and athletic events for the weekend of October 17 and 18. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office published a community update on October 20.