A critically injured teacher who had her hand “almost completely severed” when gunfire rocked Silver Rail Elementary School in Oregon last week said she pretended “to be dead” to avoid being executed by the 𝘬iᩚller – in her first public comments since the diᩚadℓy rampage.
After realizing “something happened outside” the Bend school on Oct. 15, teacher Becky Drury said she spotted the ɠυɳɱαɳ, later identified as former Silver Rail student Griffin John, and raced back into her classroom to lock the door — but the šhσσtєr “was already there.”
“Before I could do anything more, he shot me at close range and I fell to the ground,” Drury, 54, recalled of the terrifying moments in a statement obtained by KPTV.
Teacher Becky Drury, who was critically injured when she was shot by an Oregon school šhσσtєr, reveals she pretended to be dead to avoid being killed. Bend Police Departmen
Becky Pendleton Drury is seen in an undated photo. Facebook/Becky Drury
“Lying on the floor, I saw that my left hand was almost completely severed from the gunshot, and my other arm was also severely injured. I could not get up, defend myself, or protect anyone else,” she said.
“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.”
Griffin, 16, used his mom’s shotgun to blast through the door at Silver Rail before unleashing carnage inside, targeting his former special education classroom just before 1 p.m. Thursday, police said.
Three students — Rhoam Summer, 5, and two other unidentified students, ages 8 and 11 — were tragically killed in the gunfire as well as beloved volleyball coach, 25-year-old Megan Lambert.
An emergency worker holds up police tape at the scene of a śh́óóting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Oct. 15, 2026. REUTERS
Griffin J. John, 16, was identified as the šhσσtєr who killed four people at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore. Shauntai NIckerson / Facebook
Saylor Graham, a wheelchair-bound 7-year-old who was also shot during the chaos, was given lifesaving care at the school before she was rushed to a nearby hospital in serious, but stable condition.
Griffin was eventually ɠυɳned down by a heroic bystander Kaylub Giamanco — whose two daughters attend the elementary school — when he raced into the school after he heard bullets flying.
Drury, who was taken to St. Charles Medical Center, acknowledged there’s “been contradictory reporting” about her actions that day, “but the truth is, I was shot before I had any chance to act.”
She has undergone surgery on her left arm and right hand, her husband Will Drury said — and remains hospitalized, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The brave teacher said she chose to speak out “because I want to make sure the events of that day and my actions in particular are reported accurately.”
“What happened in that classroom was unimaginable,” the teacher added, “and like so many in this community, my heart is broken for everyone affected by this tᩚraɢedy.”
School officials have announced that Silver Rail will be closed indefinitely in the wake of the massacre.
