Dayna Klein, one of the six shooting victims at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, gives her personal account of what happened on that terrible day she was shot.
"Dayna Klein was in her Belltown office making her usual fundraising calls when she heard popping noises and screams, followed by the sound of people running.
"Moments later, she found herself face to face with a gunman bent on a bloody rampage. He had forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and, spouting epithets, began opening fire on Klein's co-workers.
""He drew his gun and pointed it at me," Klein, 37, recalled Tuesday in a telephone interview -- the first time she's spoken publicly about the July 28 shooting.
"As the shooter squeezed the trigger, the pregnant Seattle woman swung her left arm over her belly to instinctively protect her 17-week-old unborn baby.
""It was a split second that I was able to think. I don't know how, but I was," she said. "The only thing that occurred to me was, how I was going to save my baby? That was my one shot, my one chance of saving my baby."
"Even after taking the bullet, Klein managed to regain her composure and call 911 -- defying the gunman's orders. When he angrily pressed the semiautomatic handgun to her head, she persuaded him to talk to the police dispatcher."
The term 'hero' is often misused in describing various acts by various people, and even though Dayna doesn't consider herself to be a hero, what she did that day - calling 911 even after Haq told her not to, and then pressing his gun to her head while she was on the phone with the police dispatcher - sounds pretty heroic to me.
Dayna, what you did that terrible day, amid the terror and chaos that surrounded you, probably saved lives. That makes you a hero in my book!
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