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SEATTLE - Dayna Klein, whose actions during August's shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle prompted police to call her a hero, gave birth to a son Tuesday, according to a family spokesman.
The boy's name is Charley Paz, which means "peace" in Spanish and is meant as a tribute to Pamela Waechter, who was killed in the rampage.
Howard Bragman, a publicist who volunteered to act as a representative of the Klein family, would not reveal where the boy was born "for security reasons." Mother and child, 5 pounds, 12 ounces, are both doing fine, said Bragman.
Police say the gunman, later identified as Naveed Afzal Haq, barged into the federation's Seattle office, shouted that he was angry with Jews and Israel, and began shooting randomly.
When Haq fired at Klein, then 17 weeks pregnant, police believe she instinctively raised her left arm to protect her baby. Wounded in the left arm, she then crawled to a phone and dialed 911 - ignoring the gunman's demand that nobody call for help.
Haq took the phone from Klein and began talking to dispatchers, who helped calm him. He surrendered minutes after the shooting began.
"She's a hero in my eyes," Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has said of Klein.
In the coming weeks, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng is expected to announce whether his office will seek the death penalty against Haq, who tried to plead guilty before his attorneys entered not-guilty pleas for nine felonies related to the incident.
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(c) 2006, The Seattle Times. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
