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her annul wnai sne saw during fpg the shooting and were told towait at least until Monday.★★★Victim Recalls(Continued From Page At)remains in satisfactory condi tion at St. Jude. He is a super vising custodian at Cal State.r- tReran, a gray-bearded man, spoke haltingly about what he* remembers of Monday's tragedy. sometimes having difficulty! describing his feelings at thetime.“I came in about five minuteslate that morning and after going to my office. I went out to1 talk to one of the women in Die library,” he said. *‘I saw a fellow’ there ~ I didn't recognize him — and he had what looked to be a rifle. I couldn't believe it was. He was talking to Steve Becker and anothersiperson“I went over to tat1- to another woman and I said. ‘Could(C«erimithat be a tifle that guy’s hold- §C) ins?’ and she said she thought itWuS an umbrella. I didn't wantto interfere if everything wasi waall right. I jus* knew there wascarrv-itragunskiiReran said be turned back to soeak to the woman again and '1all of a sudden, heard shots. |l *H|“He pointed it directly at, 1 , ^ think, Hoffman, and shot. Thenj I heard another shot. 1 don't know if it hit Becker or not. I ^ just knew I had to go over toL,rhelp Steve.” I JIt looked like Becker was trying to get the rifle from the gunman. Reran said. ^ “So I went over to help. All I ^ could think about was that9*tathSteve had made the effort and I had to help him. I thought the two of us could get the gunaway.”Helping Becker almost cost 1 ' Reran his life. Other employes fled or hid, according to wit 1,1nesses. 5“I kept trying to get the rifleaway,* and he was stronger than frI was,” Reran said. “I kept ‘t hoping someone would come up t behind me and help. Finally, la the rifle fell on the floor and I b fell on it. I was lying on thealhlt;idhfloor trying to get up when he somehow got the gin back and shot me point-blank.”Reran said at that point he wasn’t sure if he'd been hit before or if this was the first|e time. He'd already heard soj tlmany shots. bAllaway, Reran said, seemed\ h “wild, with his hair messed up j b and he was grunting. I realb had a terrible struggle with|v him.”When he realized he’d beentshot, Reran got up from theU floor and staggered to a nearby|s office. “I looked around anddidn't see him. so I went into Mrs. Beth West’s office andclosed'.11could get out of his way. I sawMmy blood and I knew how* bad was bleeding so I dialed th ( operator to tell her I’d been sb 4 and needed an ambulance.”Reran was surprised when!, the operator told him they would send an ambulance as soon as they could but there had|; been other emergencies.“I thought I’d been hit several time* and I was getting weak but I never completely lost consciousness,” he recalled. “Then I became afraid that the ambulance people wouldn't find me inthe office, so 1 looked out the door, saw no trace of him. tried to walk outside and then I felldown.”That's all Reran rememliers. “It wasn't until yesterday that I found out what happened. My last clear recollection is of him aiming the gun point-blank at me.”
Newspaper Details
Orange County Register
Orange, California, US
Fri, Jul 16, 1976
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Lee D.
USA 07 Jul 2023
Other Publications Near Orange, California
Orange County Register
Orange City News
