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Home Front: WoT

Accused Jewish center shooter pleads insanity

2007-05-31

Followup on Seattle's SJS (Sudden Jihad Syndrome) attack. Moved to Home Front: WoT, since this attack was surely part of that. SEATTLE (AP) - Naveed Haq, accused of shooting six women - one fatally - at a Seattle Jewish center last summer, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday as prosecutors tacked on 11 additional charges against him. Haq, 31, who has a long history of mental illness, initially pleaded not guilty following the July 28 shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. But at a King County Superior Court hearing before Judge Paris Kallas, he changed it to an insanity plea for the 20 charges he now faces, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, burglary, malicious harassment, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. The additional charges "more accurately reflect the extent of his conduct," said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County prosecutor's office. Haq now faces one burglary charge and one charge of malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime law, for each victim, as well as the unlawful imprisonment charge. Trial is scheduled for January. Haq would receive life in prison if convicted of aggravated murder. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who died last week, called the shooting one of the most serious crimes in the city's history, but declined to seek the death penalty because of Haq's history of mental illness. Haq, who grew up in the Tri-Cities area of south-central Washington, has been treated for bipolar disorder, according to prosecutors, and a family friend said he had been getting psychiatric help for 10 years. Prosecutors said Haq waited in the vestibule of the downtown Seattle building until 14-year-old Kelsie Burkum arrived to meet Cheryl Stumbo, her aunt. He put a gun to the girl's back and followed her up the stairs to the second floor, then started shooting when one woman tried to call 911. He said he was a Muslim angry about the war in Iraq and U.S. support of Israel. In other words - Sudden Jihad Syndrome The shooting ended when Dayna Klein, then 17 weeks pregnant, persuaded the gunman to speak with an emergency operator after he shot Klein in the arm. He agreed to surrender, put his two guns down and walked out, hands on his head, court documents said. Klein later gave birth to a healthy boy. Pamela Waechter, director of the center's annual fundraising campaign, was killed in the shooting. Haq's next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov.

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Home Front: WoT

It's a boy for the lady shot at the Seattle Jewish Federation

2006-12-01

Mazel tov! But there seems to be a few details missing from the story... Dayna Klein had only her unborn baby in mind when she instinctively covered her belly after a gunman stormed a Seattle Jewish center last summer. Tuesday, she finally got to meet the son she saved. Klein, who survived the rampage July 28 at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle that killed a colleague, gave birth to Charley Paz Klein at a Seattle hospital Tuesday night, her spokesman, Howard Bragman, said. The baby weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces. The boy's middle name, which means peace, is in honor of Klein's co-worker, Pamela Waechter, who was shot to death. Naveed Haq, 30, is accused of forcing his way into the Belltown office, shouting epithets and killing Waechter and wounding Klein and four others. "What can you say? This whole thing has been a great challenge," Klein's husband, Erez, said Wednesday. "Now, we have a wonderful result. And it's now time for all the next steps in life. We have a lot of new good things to do." Police officials have called Klein a hero for saving her baby when she came face-to-face with her shooter. When the gunman pointed his weapon at her and squeezed the trigger, Klein swung her left hand over her belly to protect her fetus. A bullet went through her arm and grazed her thigh before lodging in the carpet. "It was a split second that I was able to think. I don't know how, but I was," she told the Seattle P-I after the shootings. "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 as she was wounded and bleeding, Klein managed to crawl to her desk and call 911. When the shooter pointed his gun to her head, she handed the phone to him and persuaded him to talk to the police dispatcher. He eventually put his gun down and gave up. Klein had worked at the federation, a Jewish charity, since 2003. Her co-workers Christina Rexroad, Layla Bush, Cheryl Stumbo and Carol Goldman also were wounded in the attack. Since the shooting, Klein has been focused on the birth and has had to put her own recovery on hold, her husband said. "Everything has been on hold in terms of her recovery from her gunshot wound," Erez Klein said. But now that she's had the baby, they plan to consult with surgeons and decide when she will have a bone transplant. "Everyone says Dayna saved the baby's life. Dayna thinks the baby saved her life," her husband said. "As the daddy, I'm going to say they did it together."

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Home Front: WoT

'Pregnant lady’ is a hero – twice

2006-07-30

By Robert L. Jamieson Jr., P-I Columnist In news accounts she's been called "the pregnant lady." People close to her say she would be a bit miffed by such a clipped, if apropos, moniker. Let's call Dayna Klein something else: Seattle hero. Klein, who survived being shot by a gunman who forced his way into the downtown offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday, is actually a hero twice over. When the gunman, identified as Naveed Afzal Haq, fired a semi-automatic her way, Klein moved her arm toward her womb in an act of maternal defense.The bullet struck her arm, authorities say, likely preventing possible harm from coming to her unborn child. That was the first heroic act. Her second came when Klein defied Haq. As Haq scanned the office space he warned terrified people not to call 911. But "that's what she did," Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said, referring to Klein. Klein, 37, crawled back to an office in the building. She got on a phone. She dialed emergency dispatchers. Haq caught up with her -- and saw her on the phone. Klein didn't panic. With amazing presence of mind she handed Haq the phone so that he could speak with two 911 dispatchers. The dispatchers took the handoff smoothly and handled a tense situation with aplomb. "I listened to the tape," Kerlikowske said Saturday afternoon. "I was absolutely stunned by their level of calmness and coolness." The actions of the dispatchers are being credited with influencing Haq, who had expressed anger about Israel's involvement in the Middle East and about American military support of the country. The volley of bullets he loosed inside the Jewish Federation killed one person -- Pam Waechter -- and injured five others, including Klein. His terrible act could have exacted a worse toll. Eighteen people were inside the building when Haq burst in. The names of the emergency dispatchers should be made public when the timing is right. Their soothing professionalism eased Haq's rage. Haq told the dispatchers he would surrender. He put down his weapon and walked out of the building. The dispatchers are heroes, too, as Kerlikowske acknowledged. But they would not have gotten the chance to do their jobs had it not been for the bravery of Klein, who heads up major gifts and development for the federation. She saved lives. That's one miracle to emerge from this mayhem. Another is around the corner, when Klein brings a new life into the world.

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