By Suzanne Baker
The Daily Southtown
AUSTIN, Texas — When others were fleeing the scene of a deadly knife rampage on the University of Texas campus in Austin this week, Leona Di Amore said she rushed toward the melee.
The Naperville woman said her experience as a Navy medic, chiropractor and mother instantly kicked in Monday afternoon when she delivered life-saving aid to one of three surviving victims slashed by what police described as “large, Bowie-style hunting knife.” A fourth victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The likelihood of someone with my training being on the scene is a miracle; it was an absolute miracle,” Di Amore said Wednesday morning.
The man arrested in the case — Kendrex J. White, 21, of Kileen, Texas — suffers from mental health issues and has been involuntarily committed for treatment in another city, authorities said Tuesday. He was charged with murder, and additional charges are expected, acting Austin police Chief Brian Manley told the Associated Press. Austin police could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Di Amore had been visiting Austin with a good friend for a girls’ weekend with daughter Alexis Fischer, a freshman at the university majoring in communication studies.
The three were saying their good-byes and walking Fischer back to her dormitory when they noticed streams of students running and screaming, “They’re stabbing people. They’re stabbing people,” Di Amore said.
She credits her military training and a black belt in karate with her impulse to leave the safety of the Jester Center dormitory complex to see if anyone required assistance.
Ironically, police would take White into custody minutes later inside the Jester Center.
The former petty officer third class served from 1987-92 as a Navy hospital corpsman stationed with East Coast explosive ordnance disposal, an elite group of bomb experts and Navy divers.
“When there’s a (expletive) storm, I’m running into it,” Di Amore said. “That’s what Navy divers do in crisis situations.”
What caught her eye Monday was a young man wearing a bloodied T-shirt.
With the perpetrator still on the loose, Di Amore said she moved the “terrified” student to a spot with their backs to a wall and had him remove his shirt. What she saw was a 12-inch slash stretching from his shoulder and across his neck so deep the bones of his spine were exposed.
“As a chiropractor, I work on patients every day. I know what bone looks like,” she said. “He was bleeding profusely. I quite frankly didn’t know if he was going to live.”
The chiropractor, who owns The Healing Place in Naperville, said she tried to close up the gash and hold the seam together with his T-shirt, all the while assuring him, “You are safe, and you are protected.” Her goal was to keep the young man calm until an ambulance arrived.
“I am a mom. All I could think of was that I don’t want to be the mom who gets the phone call saying your child is dead,” she said.
Knowing he’d lost a great deal of blood, Di Amore said she explained to the young man he was in shock and might pass out. She advised him not to fear if he awakens with an IV in his arm and an oxygen mask covering his face.
Di Amore said because there were other victims, it seemed to take forever for the ambulance to arrive, though she estimated it was only 15 minutes.
Fischer said she’s not surprised by her mother’s reaction.
“I was really scared. I said, ‘Mom, don’t go.’ She went anyway,” said the 2016 graduate of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. “I don’t know how many moms would do that.”
Fischer said she eventually ventured out of the building knowing her mother might need help.
Even in the midst of the chaos, Fischer said she drew upon her mother’s calm demeanor and sprang into action when her mom directed her to fetch ice.
“People were just standing there in shock. I had to push people out of the way,” she said.
Fischer also knew appearing frantic and frightened like the bystanders would not help the young man.
“The only way to keep him calm was to be calm in front of (him),” she said.
With just a few hours before her flight home, Di Amore said she was covered in blood when she returned to her hotel to clean up and finish packing. She had enough time to grab a margarita at the hotel bar before heading to the airport.
The weary traveler arrived back in Naperville around 11 p.m.
Sleep that night was elusive.
“I think I only slept for two hours. I spent most of the night praying for (the young man),” she said.
Monitoring the news throughout the predawn hours Tuesday, Di Amore called the Austin Police Department to ensure they had her contact information should she need to make a statement. She also got word the young man she treated had been released from the hospital.
Di Amore said throughout the weekend she felt a sense of uneasiness, which led her to remind Fischer repeatedly to be careful of her surroundings.
“I’m more intuitive than most people. I felt like something was not right,” she said.
Although Di Amore planned the trip months ago, she believes God placed her in Austin on Monday so she could take care of the young man. Had she not been there, she said he likely would have bled to death in a parking lot.
“There are no coincidences,” she said.
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