A teacher shot at close range inside an Oregon elementary school says she had no time to fight back, no time to shut the door, and only one option left: lie still and let the shooter think she was already dead.
Story Snapshot
- Becky Drury, a 54-year-old teacher at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, was shot during the October 15 attack that killed a teacher and three children.
- Drury says the gunman was already inside the doorway when she turned to close it, and he fired before she could react.
- Her left hand was nearly severed and her other arm badly wounded; she played dead on the floor to avoid being shot again.
- Drury’s October 21 statement pushes back on reports crediting a teacher with tackling the shooter, saying that was not her.
A Teacher’s Account Of The Attack In Her Own Words
Drury described the moment the gunman reached her classroom in a statement released through a family friend on October 21. She said she turned to shut the door, but the shooter was already standing there. Before she could do anything else, he fired at close range and she dropped to the ground, unable to move or defend herself.
What came next, Drury said, was instinct. She stayed still on the floor and pretended to be dead, hoping the gunman would move past her and not fire again. The strategy worked. She survived injuries that left her left hand nearly severed and her right arm severely damaged, according to her statement.
Emergency crews took Drury to St. Charles Medical Center, where she was treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries, CBS News reported in the days after the shooting. The Associated Press separately confirmed the wounds to her hand and arm matched the account she later gave police during a formal interview on October 21.
Setting The Record Straight On Who Did What
Drury’s statement directly addresses confusion that spread in the days after the shooting. She said she knew contradictory reports were circulating about her actions that day, but the truth was simple: she was shot before she had any chance to act. That distinction matters because other reporting described a teacher throwing a cellphone at the gunman and tackling him during the attack.
Oregon Live, which also reviewed Drury’s statement, reported the same close-range account and her description of pretending to be dead to survive. The New York Times framed her statement as Drury actively disputing the hero label some coverage had assigned her, since she says she was wounded immediately and could not have intervened the way some accounts suggested.
Local outlet Bend Source quoted Drury directly, saying she was shot before she had any chance to act, a phrase that has become central to how she wants the incident remembered. The distinction isn’t about modesty. It’s about making sure credit and blame land on the right people in a chaotic, fast-moving crime scene.
Becky Drury, a 54-year-old teacher at the Bend, Oregon school where a gunman shot and killed three students and a teacher last week, said she tried to close the door of her classroom, but the shooter was already there.
In a statement, Drury said she suffered severe injuries and… pic.twitter.com/bCrqAUvez7
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 22, 2026
Why Split-Second Choices Vary So Much In These Attacks
Research into active shooter incidents shows no two people respond the same way once gunfire starts. Studies of teachers and office workers facing simulated attacks found that building layout, prior training, and raw chance all shape whether someone runs, hides, or freezes in place. Drury’s account fits a well-documented pattern: when action isn’t possible, survival sometimes depends on stillness.
The shooter used a shotgun his mother had purchased, according to law enforcement sources cited by CBS News, and the attack killed a teacher and three children before it ended. Drury’s hospitalization and her formal interview with Bend Police on October 21 mark the first time investigators heard her full account directly.
Drury’s story stands on its own without needing to compete with other acts of courage reported that day. A wounded teacher who survived by staying still deserves the same respect as anyone who physically fought back. Both responses came from people trying to protect children under conditions almost no one is ever prepared for.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, apnews.com, bendsource.com, oregonlive.com, cbc.ca, nytimes.com
