Victim in Jewish Federation shooting had lost all her blood

Christina Rexroad's heart stopped beating just as paramedics wheeled her through the emergency-room doors at Harborview Medical Center.

"She lost essentially her whole blood volume" and went into cardiac arrest from a bullet that severed a major blood vessel in her left leg during last week's shooting at the Jewish Federation's downtown office, Dr. Ronald Maier, Harborview's surgeon-in-chief, said at a Friday news conference with Rexroad's mother, Mary.

"Ten minutes would've made for a totally different outcome," Maier said, noting that only 10 to 15 percent of gunshot victims survive after going into cardiac arrest.

Rexroad, 29, was shot in the abdomen but it was her exit wound — in her left leg near her groin area — that almost claimed her life.

"She was definitely the most acutely injured" of the Jewish Federation victims and if not for the paramedics who quickly got Rexroad to Harborview, Maier said "she would've died ... in a very short period of time."

Rexroad's mother, who declined to give her last name in order to protect her family's privacy, said her daughter has made a "miraculous" recovery and "would go home today if they let her.

"You don't lose all your blood and survive it very often," said Mary, who credited prayers from people "across the nation and the world" for Rexroad's speedy turnaround.

Maier said Rexroad is expected to make a full recovery and will be allowed to go home when she is able to start physical therapy.

She is able to talk and she can walk with the assistance of a walker, but she is still in a lot of pain.

Rexroad of Everett is a widow who was working three jobs — as an accountant at the federation, doing Saturday bookkeeping for a Bellevue mortgage company and as a saleswoman for Mary Kay cosmetics — to support herself and her special-needs son, David, 10, her mother said.

Mary thanked members of the Jewish Federation, many of whom have flown to Seattle from other states and Canada, for their support — which includes paying Rexroad's medical bills and personal expenses for at least the next three months.

Mary said her daughter told her that the gunman who barged into the federation's second-floor office shot at her twice "and would've shot her again if she hadn't left the room."

Rexroad thinks she fell down some stairs before making it outside to the street, where she collapsed and passed out, Mary said.

Rexroad, who is a Christian, suffers night terrors from the shooting but wants to go back to work at the federation, Mary said.

"Her biggest fear" was returning to the office where she was shot, but according to Mary, federation officials are now remodeling the office "so it doesn't even look like the same place."

As for Naveed Afzal Haq, the man accused of killing Pamela Waechter, 58, and injuring five women, including Rexroad, Mary said: "I don't have any anger or resentment in my heart towards him. ... I'm just glad my daughter's alive."

On July 28, Haq threatened a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint, forcing her to let him into the secure building that houses the Jewish Federation's downtown office, according to charging papers.

Once inside, he opened fire on several employees.

He allegedly made anti-Jewish statements to his victims and a 911 operator, saying he was an American Muslim angry at Israel, American foreign policy and the war in Iraq. Haq ultimately laid down his weapons — two semiautomatic pistols and a knife — and surrendered to police, prosecutors say.

Haq, 30, was charged Wednesday with nine felonies. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng will have 30 days after Haq's Aug. 10 arraignment to decide whether to seek the death penalty for the killing of Waechter, who died at the scene after being shot in the chest and head.

Haq also is accused of shooting Carol Goldman, 35, in the knee as she reached for the phone to call 911, charging papers say. He then shot Layla Bush, 23, in the abdomen and left shoulder and Cheryl Stumbo, 43, and Rexroad in the abdomen. He also is accused of firing at Dayna Klein's abdomen, but the bullet hit the arm she'd placed over her belly to protect her unborn child.

Klein, 37, was released from Harborview Medical Center Tuesday.

Rexroad, Stumbo and Goldman were all in satisfactory condition Friday, according to a hospital spokeswoman, while Bush remained in serious condition in the ICU.

According to Maier, Bush is doing better but suffered "significant injuries in her abdomen" that required major surgery. She has nerve damage in her right leg that may result in a permanent disability. She still needs a ventilator to help her breathe and is being fed through her stomach, he said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com