Victim pregnant at time of Jewish Federation shootings testifies in Haq trial

Dayna Klein was on the phone trying to tie up business on a Friday afternoon when she heard popping in the hallway of the Belltown offices where she worked.

She peeked her head out of her office expecting to find her co-workers playing around. Instead, she saw Naveed Haq.

"He had a gun raised ... he shot me at his first opportunity," she testified this morning in Haq's trial for the July 28, 2006, shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

Seventeen weeks pregnant, Klein's first thought after she was shot was about her baby. Fortunately, she was able to protect her unborn child.

"By some miracle I was able to get my arm up in front my abdomen. I felt the bullet go into my arm. I slid down the wall and crumpled. There was a tremendous amount of blood," she said.

Klein was the fifth shooting victim to testify in Haq's trial, which began last week in King County Superior Court.

Haq, 32, is accused of forcing his way into the federation, killing employee Pamela Waechter and injuring five other women. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to numerous criminal charges, including one count of aggravated murder, five counts of attempted aggravated murder and the state's hate-crime law. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty of the murder charge.

Klein broke down on the stand this morning as Erin Ehlert, senior deputy prosecuting attorney, questioned her about that afternoon. After she was shot, Klein said Haq left her office, calmly telling her that if anyone called 911 he would kill them.

Still, Klein reached up and pulled down the telephone receiver from her desk and dialed 911. As she spoke with an operator, Haq appeared again in her doorway and told her "because you were too [expletive] stupid to listen, you are my hostage now."

With Haq's gun trained on her head, Klein offered him the receiver and then crouched quietly in a corner, she testified.

"He began to state that ... he would like to talk to [television talk-show host] Larry King and the Jews ... need to get out of Lebanon and Iraq. This is his Hezbollah, this is his personal statement."

Testimony will continue today.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com