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Roseburg, OR: Pastor Says Fellow Classmate Saved Daughter’s Life in School Shooting

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Oct 07, 2015

A pastor in Roseburg, Oregon, where a tragic shooting took place at Umpqua Community College last week, says that his daughter was saved through the sacrifice of one of her classmates.

CBN News reports that Pastor Randy Scroggins of New Beginnings Church of God is sharing his daughter’s testimony that it was a fellow classmate’s last act of sacrifice that saved her life.

In a lengthy interview with CBN News, Scroggins gives an account of his daughter’s experience and the thoughts that ran through her mind the day the shooter entered her classroom and began his killing spree.

Lacey Scroggins, 18, told her father that she heard a “pop” and saw a hole blown through one of her Writing 115 classroom’s windows. The shooter then entered and told everyone to lay down on the floor.

He then began telling certain people to stand up, asked them if they were a Christian, and if they said yes, he shot them.

According to Lacey’s account, as told to her father, after the killer shot a number of people, he told everyone to get in a tight circle in the middle of the room. After they did so, the shooter began shooting more of them. A young man next to Lacey named Treven Anspach was shot, and she knew she would be next.

Scroggins tells CBN that Lacey believed she was going to die that day, but she just kept praying.

Laying tensely on the floor of the classroom, Lacey began to feel the weight of the body of the young man next to her who had been shot. The young man positioned his body over Lacey’s, and blood from his gunshot wound bled all over Lacey and pooled on the floor under her. 

The shooter then asked another young woman if Lacey was dead. “I don’t know,” the woman replied.

The shooter then turned his attention to another victim.

But Lacey was not dead.

“The blood of that boy that covered my daughter saved her life,” said an emotional Pastor Scroggins as he spoke about the beautiful parallel of Lacey’s classmate’s sacrifice and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, spilling his blood for sinners. 

Scroggins said he has been in contact with Treven Anspach’s family. 

Photo courtesy: pixabay.com

Publication date: October 7, 2015