Teacher wounded in Bend school shooting says she tried to close the door, "but the shooter was already there"

As of 8:10 a.m. ET, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

A teacher who was shot in the Oct. 15 attack at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, said she saw the gunman and tried to shut her classroom door, "but the shooter was already there," NBC News reported.

"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," Becky Drury said in a statement Wednesday, Oct. 21, according to NBC News.

"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."

Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed in the attack, officials said, according to NBC News. Police have said a bystander followed the teenage shooter into the school and shot him as another teacher wrestled with him over the weapon, NBC News reported. GROKsiNEWS.com is not naming the shooter because he was a minor.

"Bend Police detectives continue this complex investigation," police said in a statement Wednesday, according to NBC News. "That work continues, and it takes time."

Students in the Bend-La Pine Schools district returned to classes Wednesday, though not at Silver Rail Elementary, NBC News reported.

GROKsiNEWS.com earlier reported police's account of how the bystander stopped the gunman: https://GROKsiNEWS.com/articles/bend-police-armed-father-stopped-school-gunman/