On a Thursday in Bend, Oregon, a school day that should have held nothing but lessons and recess turned into an act of violence against children, and a father who had come to pick up his own daughters' world from the edge of disaster found himself in the middle of it. Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old father sitting in his truck outside Silver Rail Elementary, answered the sound of gunfire and the cries of children by crawling through a broken window and firing at the teenage gunman, a former student of the school. Three children and a teacher died, and others were wounded, while a police account
Oregon Father Describes Confronting Armed Teen at Silver Rail Elementary Shooting
Three children aged 5, 8 and 11 and a teacher were killed; another student was critically injured and a teacher hospitalized.
He army-crawled faster, thinking it could be the last thing he ever did.
Mark
What stands out first is that he was already outside the school. Why was he there?
Mimi
The reporting doesn't say. What we know is that he saw the gunman throw a rifle over the fence at his daughters' school, and everything starts from that moment.
Luke
Right, and that's worth holding onto. The reason he was parked there isn't in what we have.
Mark
He describes a very specific route: recycling bin, corridor, broken window, entryway. Does that detail matter?
Mimi
It puts the reader in the physical space, and it shows how close the special-needs classroom was. He says he crawled through the bottom of a broken-out window and the classroom was to his left.
Luke
But it's his recollection, told to OPB. Police have credited him with saving lives, which is confirmed. The step-by-step account is his.
Mark
The teacher seems central too.
Mimi
Yes. He says the teacher was struggling with the gunman when he looked in. Police credit that unarmed teacher as well.
Luke
Worth noting that a teacher was also killed and another injured. The reporting doesn't tell us which teacher was which, so I wouldn't guess.
Mark
And the call to his mother?
Mimi
He said he'd had to take the life of what he thought might be a child. She told him he'd done the right thing. It's the human weight of the story.
Luke
And what's still open is the investigation's findings on the response. That hasn't been reported yet.
The Pulse
- A rifle sailed over a fence at Silver Rail Elementary, and a father sitting in his truck saw the threat arrive in seconds.
- The 16-year-old gunman blasted through locked doors with a shotgun and reached a special-needs classroom where children were pleading for help.
- Giamanco reached for his legally carried gun and army-crawled through a broken window, bracing for what he feared might be his last act.
- Inside, he saw a teacher struggling with the shooter and fired once the attacker turned away, a split-second decision that police say saved lives.
- Three children and a teacher are dead, a student is critically injured, and the investigation into the attack and the response is only beginning.
On a Thursday in Bend, Oregon, a school day that should have held nothing but lessons and recess turned into an act of violence against children, and a father who had come to pick up his own daughters' world from the edge of disaster found himself in the middle of it. Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old father sitting in his truck outside Silver Rail Elementary, answered the sound of gunfire and the cries of children by crawling through a broken window and firing at the teenage gunman, a former student of the school. Three children and a teacher died, and others were wounded, while a police account credits Giamanco and an unarmed teacher with stopping a worse toll. As the investigation proceeds, the story stands as a painful reminder of how quickly ordinary life can be broken, and of how the choices made in those few seconds will be weighed for a long time.
Kaylub Giamanco was sitting in his truck outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, when he saw a gunman toss a rifle over a fence at the school where his two daughters studied. He reached for the gun kept in his center console, and then he heard gunfire and children calling for help. He started toward the building low and fast, crawling past a recycling bin and through the bottom of a broken window into a small entryway.
From the floor, he checked that a round was chambered and looked through a window into the special-needs classroom. A teacher was struggling with the gunman, and the shooter had turned sideways and did not know he was there. Giamanco pushed the door open, stepped in, and fired. Afterward he called his mother, saying he had taken a life, perhaps a child's, because someone had walked into his daughters' school with a gun. She told him he had done the right thing and had saved lives.
The attack killed three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher, and left another student critically injured and a second teacher hospitalized. Police identified the shooter as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, a former student. They credit Giamanco, who was carrying legally, and the unarmed teacher who confronted the gunman. Giamanco's account is his own, and the investigation into what happened and how the response unfolded is still ahead.
Kaylub Giamanco was sitting in his truck outside Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, when he saw a gunman throw a rifle over a fence at the school where his two daughters were students. In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, the 36-year-old father described what followed: panic, a gun in a center console, and a crawl toward a building where children were calling out for help.
Giamanco said that when he saw the rifle go over the fence, he opened the center console where his gun was kept and repeated, "no, no, no, no, no." He then heard gunfire and children pleading for help, and he started toward the school. He told OPB he army-crawled faster as he went, thinking it might be the last thing he ever did.
He described his route in detail. He moved low past a recycling bin and into a corridor leading toward the doors. He then crawled through the bottom of a broken-out window onto a rug in a small entryway with stairs. The special-needs classroom was to his left.
Once there, Giamanco said, he got to his hands and knees and checked his weapon to make sure a live round was chambered. He looked through a window into the classroom and saw a teacher on the left struggling with the gunman, who held a rifle on the right. Both were turned sideways to him, he said, and the shooter did not know he was there. Giamanco said he pushed the door open, stepped inside and fired.
Afterward, he called his mother. He recalled telling her, "I just had to take the life of what I think might be a child because he went into my daughters' school with a gun." She told him to calm down, he said, that he had done the right thing and that he had saved lives.
The attack happened last Thursday. Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed. Another student was critically injured, and a second teacher was injured and hospitalized. The shooter was identified as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, a former student of the school. Police said he blasted through locked doors with a shotgun and attacked a special-needs classroom.
Police have said Giamanco was carrying his gun legally in his truck. They have credited him, along with the unarmed teacher who confronted the gunman, with saving lives. Giamanco's account is his own telling to OPB, and further findings from the investigation into the attack and the response to it are still to come.
Notable Quotes
I just had to take the life of what I think might be a child because he went into my daughters' school with a gun.— Kaylub Giamanco, recalling his call to his mother, to OPB
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