jbow808

The day of the shooting, I walked my daughter and her best friend at the time to school. (We only lived 5 houses away) . Little did I know when i hugged her as we rounded the corner to the school that i could have been the last time i could even tell my little monkey that i loved her. (edited a word)

The shooting occurred on a Wednesday (which are an early release day) and I normally took a later ferry to go the the University of Washington (were I was a student) and took classes at night so that I could spend the morning with my kids and work my part-time job at the VA. On this particular day I think I had a mid-term or something and decided to go to the campus early so i had my wife drop me off at the Bremerton Ferry Terminal at about 1:25 pm. As she was pulling away my wife's phone started ringing

At about 1:30 just as i was walking on the ferry, my wife told me that a shooting had occurred in our daughter's class, but she didn't know anything else. I started walking the 2 miles home with no idea what was occurring other than the fact every emergency vehicle in the city was headed towards the school and helicopters were circling my neighborhood. I tried calling my wife be her phone was busy the whole time

I had walked about a 1/2 mile when my neighbor called to tell me that my daughter, Amina, was shot and that she was being transported to the hospital, I almost broke down and cried.

I was in the middle of "nowhere" and had no way to get home, luckily i saw a guy about my age with a toddler coming out of the Post Office. The man asked why were a bunch of helicopter's flying around. I explained that there was a shooting in my daughters class room and asked for a ride. We took off down the street going about 60 in a 35!

When I got to my neighborhood, the roads were filled with anxious parents and emergency vechicles. My wife was requesting confirmation from the Fire Chief that it was our daughter who was transported to the hospital. 2 minutes after I arrived the Fire Chief broke the news and news camera's started appearing out of nowhere as my wifre and son started crying.

We raced to the local hospital and saw Amina's tiny body laying in the operatory, it seemed like the whole hospital was there to try to stabilize her. We were met by her teach who told us how she performed first aid and stopped the bleeding from her abdomen.

We arrived at the hospital just minutes before she was life flighted to Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle (about 15 miles away) and said good-bye and that she's a Bowman and Bowman's never give up.

Then we raced to our house about a mile away and grabbed a bag of of clothing, knowing that we would be in the hospital of a while and hoped that we would be able to catch the ferry which was scheduled to depart. I was on the phone trying to get the ferry held, while driving like a mad man to the ferry terminal.

That ferry ride was the longest hour of my life, but when we arrived at the hospital were we told that Amina had just gotten out of surgery and that they were trying to stop the bleeding but couldn't. We were just happy to have another chance to see her and not have to say good-bye.

Later that evening, following her second surgery which stabilized her condition, our friends and family started arriving.

No.. I've always held the viewpoint that you are responsible for what your guns do. If you can't keep them out of the reach of children and can't lock them up you should be charged with child endangerment at the very least.

I view gun ownership much like driving, if you get into an accident and you caused it then you need to pay for damages.

Amina is doing better, considering the severity of her injuries. She goes to therapy for PTSD once a week and we recently moved from Bremerton (we lived 5 houses from the school where the shooting occurred) because I got a new job. However she does know that she might not be able to have children.

I actually was in the Navy for 19 years ( I was medically retired for PTSD). During my career I worked as a fire arms instructor and taught weapon safety to over 3,000 sailors.

I believe in the right to bear arms, but also believe that it is the individuals responsibility to protect weapons from unauthorized use (including being stolen).

That said, the whole concept that nobody has taken criminal responsibility for the shooting - the kid got a year probation then all charges were dropped, the gunner own appealed the charge (which my wife and I feel was the wrong charge anyway) and the case was dismissed by the WA State Supreme Court a few weeks ago.

I wish i could find him and give him a big bro hug.. he was a life saver.