Hero father who stopped teenage gunman at Oregon school recalls hearing children pleading for their lives

Kaylub Giamanco, the father who stopped a teenage gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, said he heard children "pleading" for their lives before he acted. The gunman killed three children and a teacher, and Giamanco said he regrets that he didn’t save everyone.

In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, the 36-year-old carpenter praised an unnamed teacher who wrestled with the 16-year-old shooter, Griffin J. John II. Giamanco said her struggle gave him a better chance to take the gunman down.

“I saw a clear shot to where I did not have to take her life. Without her, and that little spur-of-the-moment delay, I very much feel like I would have been facing the shooter head-on and we could have both died, or I could have died,” Giamanco said.

“I felt like I was the last line of defense between me and the rest of the children in the school. I don’t know her name. I would love to know her name. I would love to give her a hug because that’s a real true hero. To not have a weapon and to put yourself in between your babies and a firearm. You know, it’s a lot.”

Investigators say that at about 12:58 p.m. Thursday, two vehicles were traveling west on Brentwood Avenue near Silver Rail Elementary. The suspect approached the fenced rear of the school from an undeveloped area near Nina Avenue. He was seen throwing his weapon over the fence and then climbing over it onto school property.

Police say the driver of a red Toyota pickup truck saw this and confronted the suspect, who fired at him and hit the truck three times. The driver continued down the street and called 911.

Giamanco, who witnessed the shooting, drove into the parking lot of the school, where his daughters are students. Police say the suspect forced his way into the school through an exterior set of double doors.

Investigators say Giamanco grabbed a .40-caliber pistol from his vehicle and followed the suspect.

“He saw a teacher involved in a physical altercation with the suspect and fired his weapon, striking the suspect multiple times,” the Bend Police Department said.

Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were confirmed dead. A 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher were also hospitalized with critical injuries.

The 5-year-old was identified as Rhoam Summer, and the 25-year-old teacher was identified as Meghan Lambert of Bend. The other two children were not named because their parents asked for privacy.

The injured 7-year-old girl received lifesaving care at the scene and is being treated at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, where she is in serious but stable condition. Becky Drury, 54, another teacher from Bend, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and is at St. Charles Bend Hospital.

Giamanco said he first called police after seeing the gunman fire at the pickup driver. He grew frustrated with the reporting protocol after he watched the gunman enter the school. He recalled telling the 911 dispatcher, “I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die.”

Giamanco, who has two daughters at the school, said he followed the gunman and heard him shooting out the school doors. As he followed John, he said he “started hearing children pleading for their lives. And then I started hearing gunfire, and I just started army crawling faster and faster. And I told myself this was probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do.”

Armed, he reached a special-needs classroom.

“I seen a teacher on the left struggling with the gunman on the right with the rifle,” he said.

“I knew that he [gunman] did not know that I was there. And so at that point, I swung the door out and open, and I stepped in and I fired, and they dropped to the ground, and the teacher sprang out of the building, thinking that I was a second shooter, and I could see the fear in her eyes, and that did hurt a lot. But I could see the fear in her eyes,” he said.

He said that even though the gunman was on the ground, he was still “scrambling for his weapon,” so “I looked at him, and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn’t move, because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else.”

Giamanco said he then called his wife and told her “that I had just had to shoot and kill somebody, and that I had to watch him take the lives of children and teachers.”

He also called his mother and told her what happened.

“I was like, ‘Mom, I just had to take the life of what I think might be a child, because he went in to my daughters’ school with a gun.’ And, you know, she was just like, ‘Okay, baby, calm down. You know, you did the right thing. You’re a hero. You saved lives,’” he said.

“And then I just kind of broke down at that point. And I was just like, you know, I didn’t save everybody. I didn’t get them all. And I kind of just broke. … I felt like I was having a heart attack almost the entire time. I’ve never had so much chest pain. I mean, I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life,” he added.

The carpenter, who said he always wanted to make a difference in life, said he now feels inspired to raise awareness about the need for school security nationwide.

“I feel a higher calling to change this world. I’ve always wanted to. I’ve always wanted to change the world. But I’ve felt small. You know, I’m just a carpenter from Bend, Oregon, you know. I was a nobody other than to my friends and family, who, you know, I was everybody,” he said.

“I feel the serious need to be in the public and to raise awareness, to raise money for school security across the nation, starting with my hometown first. These are the thoughts that help make me feel empowered.”

A GoFundMe campaign to support Giamanco’s psychological recovery and his family had raised more than $446,000 as of Monday afternoon.

"People are calling him a hero," wrote campaign organizer Amy Reynolds. "And while his actions were extraordinarily brave, those of us who know Kaylub know that he would simply say he did what any loving father and community member would have done."