ع
Becky Drury ran back into her classroom after spotting the gunman outside Silver Rail Elementary School but was shot before she could shut the door or shield any students, according to the statement she issued through a family friend. Lying on the floor with severe injuries, the 54-year-old teacher realized she could not get up or defend herself. “I could not get up, defend myself, or protect anyone else,” Drury said in the statement obtained by multiple outlets including Fox News and the New York Post. “So, I did the only thing I could do, which was to pretend to be dead in the hope he would not shoot me again.” The educator added that she released the account to correct contradictory reports about her actions during the October 15 incident.
Drury’s left hand was almost completely severed by the close-range gunshot while her right arm was also severely injured, her statement to Central Oregon Daily News and other news organizations detailed. She remained hospitalized in critical condition days after the attack, according to police updates shared with the Associated Press. The teacher emphasized that she had no opportunity to throw herself over a student as some initial accounts had suggested. Her clarification came as the community continued to process the deadliest school shooting in Oregon in more than a decade, a Reuters dispatch from the immediate aftermath noted.
The shooting unfolded when 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, a former student at the school, jumped a fence and blasted through locked doors with a 12-gauge shotgun before entering a special education classroom, Bend police reported at a news conference the following day. He fired as many as 15 rounds inside the room, according to the department’s initial investigation shared with Reuters. Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the attack, which occurred on a day when school pictures were being taken.
Another teacher in the classroom threw her cellphone at the gunman and tackled him in an effort to seize the weapon, an action that Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz described as heroic and likely lifesaving. The unidentified educator was not injured in the struggle, the chief told reporters. A 36-year-old father of two students at the school, identified as Kaylub Giamanco, then entered the building and shot the teenager multiple times, fatally wounding him just before officers arrived, according to the police account relayed by the Associated Press.
The attack killed three children ages 5, 8 and 11, one of whom was identified as Rhoam Summer, along with 25-year-old teacher Meghan Lambert, police figures show. A 7-year-old student suffered critical injuries and was listed in serious but stable condition afterward. Drury was the other adult wounded in the classroom, with her family confirming she was recovering from gunshot wounds to both arms in the days immediately after the incident, the Seattle Times reported.
The shotgun used in the attack had been purchased legally, the Bend Police Department confirmed in updates released this week. John lived within walking distance of the school and carried approximately 44 additional rounds of ammunition, according to the chief’s briefing. The episode has drawn renewed attention to school security protocols across the region, with officials from the Oregon governor’s office issuing statements on the need to support affected families and educators.
Silver Rail Elementary and other schools in the district reopened earlier this week with enhanced counseling services and security measures in place, local news outlets including NewsNation reported. Community vigils have continued since the October 15 attack, focusing on the victims and first responders who ended the rampage. Drury’s statement concluded by expressing heartbreak for everyone touched by the tragedy, a sentiment echoed in public comments from Lambert’s family that were shared by authorities.
