SEATTLE – Dayna Klein has goals.
She wants her arm to heal so she can change her baby’s diapers with two hands.
She wants her pregnancy to continue.
She wants others to learn from what happened to her.
“I’m trying to make a really great glass of lemonade out of a really crummy situation,” the 37-year-old said Thursday.
Klein is one of six women shot on July 28 at Seattle’s Jewish Federation offices. Her friend Pamela Waechter, 58, was killed. Christina Rexroad, 29, of Everett, also was injured.
Now, Klein said she is speaking out, in part because telling her story helps her to heal, and in part to help raise awareness about gun control and workplace safety.
Klein said her American Red Cross training helped her instinctively know what to do when she was confronted and shot by the gunman.
Naveed Afzal Haq allegedly went on a shooting rampage in the federation offices. He declared he was a Muslim angry at the United States’ support of Israel.
Haq, 30, pleaded not guilty this week to aggravated first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder and other charges.
He faces either life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
Klein said she will leave it up others to decide what punishment he should face.
“Naveed Haq has wasted enough of my time,” she said.
During the shooting and despite having been shot in the arm, Klein picked up the phone and called 911. The gunman had said he’d kill anyone who called police.
Later, the gunman took her hostage in her office, with a gun pointed at her head.
“My training kicked in more, and I took a deep breath,” she said.
She quietly told him it was OK for him to talk directly to 911.
Moments later, after talking to dispatchers, Haq put the gun down, folded his hands over his head and walked out.
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has called Klein a hero for her actions that day.
“To be called a hero by someone that I think is a hero, I don’t know what to say,” she said.
Klein said she hopes the shooting will serve to renew local and national efforts to draft gun control legislation.
How and why Haq “was able to legally acquire two semi-automatic weapons in our state is still a very disturbing mystery to me,” she said.
She urged employers around the region to take advantage of free- and low-cost workplace safety training programs.
In Everett, crime prevention officer Steve Paxton said he regularly provides free 90-minute training programs.
The talk typically includes ways to de-escalate a situation and personal safety techniques, Paxton said.
The Snohomish County American Red Cross offers classes in workplace safety, first aid and CPR, executive director Chuck Morrison said.
He said Klein likely remembered the training program’s four Cs: check the scene for safety; call 911; care for the injured; and remain calm.
Despite her strong composure during press appearances, Klein said she is taking life day by day.
She’s wearing a specially made brace on her arm, her fingers supported by threads on a plastic frame.
It is unclear if she’ll regain use of the hand, she said.
She has several doctor’s appointments each week to help her care for her shattered arm, cope emotionally and manage her pregnancy.
She’s concerned about her baby, due in January, she said.
She’s been studying research on the effects of trauma on pregnant women.
“In that ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ book, there’s no chapter on, like, when you get shot in your second trimester,” she said. “Many women don’t carry to term.”
She’s taking care of those around her too.
Last week, she and her husband, Erez, visited New York to “explain to my 88-year-old grandfather what happened.” While there, they met with former President Clinton to discuss gun control and safety, issues his foundation supports.
Clinton gave the couple a photo from his presidential collection of John Kennedy standing in front of a European synagogue.
They proudly showed the photo to reporters Thursday at a press conference “Best to you and your child,” Clinton wrote on the back of the picture frame.
Klein said she’s in touch with the other survivors whom she describes as friends.
“I know these people, which makes it so much harder,” she said. “It also makes it so much more rewarding when I see us all rise to the occasion and heal with bravery and integrity.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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