IN MY SHOES: She Stared Down An Armed Terrorist To Save Her Unborn Baby’s Life

 

Dayna Klein, one of six women shot at Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle last month allegedly by Muslim-American Naveed Afzal Haq “made a split-second decision that may have saved the life of her unborn baby,” according to The Seattle Times:

Sensing that the man might shoot at her belly, Klein's left arm flew down to protect the child she had carried for 17 weeks. The bullet tore through her arm and grazed her leg.

 

Klein collapsed in pain, but she knew she needed to phone for help despite the gunman's threat to kill anyone … who did so. …

 

She crawled several feet back into her office and dialed 911. Almost immediately the gunman returned and this time he aimed his handgun at her head, according to King County prosecutors.

 

"I knew I had to reach a phone and call 911. The pain was horrible, but it was worth the gamble to me," said Klein, speaking publicly Tuesday for the first time since the July 28 shootings. "I never thought to get myself up and walk to the door. If someone wants to do that, that's great; that's just not me." …

 

Klein, 37, considers herself lucky for having survived the shootings, which left one woman dead and five others, including her, with bullet wounds. The Seattle woman credits the years of crisis training she received while working at a Boston-area American Red Cross as the reason why she reacted the way she did when the gunman barged into her office building that Friday afternoon. …

 

With a gun pointed at her head, Klein deliberately spoke “calmly,” “slowly,” “quietly” and “nicely” to the 911 dispatcher to calm the gunman, who police and prosecutors later identified as Naveed Afzal Haq, 30. She hoped her demeanor would prompt the gunman to take the phone and talk to the dispatcher himself.

 

The gunman grabbed the phone and began ranting about his hatred of Jews and U.S. foreign policy. Klein sat hunched on the floor thinking about her husband, Erez, and their baby due in January. She tightly wrapped a plastic garbage-can liner and a cotton tote bag around her bleeding arm and avoided making eye contact with the man.

 

“I wanted him to forget I was there, even though he had the gun at me,” Klein said. “I was very, very, very quiet. I tried not to cry. I just took care of my arm.”

 

As Klein tried to stay calm, Haq told the dispatcher to connect him to CNN, according to court papers. When the dispatcher told Haq that she couldn't connect him with the media, he put down his gun, walked outside and surrendered to police, according to court papers.

 

From the carpeted floor of her office, Klein counted the gunman's footsteps. When she was certain he had left the building, she stood up and quickly walked into the hall in search of survivors. …

 

“I see this as a chance for Seattleites and people across America ... to look at some serious issues about workplace safety, gun control, gun violence and empowerment,” Klein said. “I'm happy I was able to do what I was able to do. I'm happy my reaction saved my baby. I'm really proud of what I did.”

Posted by The Stiletto at August 10, 2006
Categories: In My Shoes
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)
Page: 1 of 1
  • May 9, 2007 Qwerty the cucumber wrote:
    This is a perfect story! An excellent example tying in sanctity of human life, radical Islam, guns, and al the other thorny issues...
    Reply to this

Page: 1 of 1
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Name (required)

 Email (will not be published) (required)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.