A father who shot dead a teenage gunman during an Oregon school shooting has described, minute by minute, how he entered Silver Rail Elementary after seeing the attacker head towards children, including one of his daughters.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, said he had been driving home during his lunch break on October 15 when he saw Griffin John II firing at a red vehicle. The 16-year-old then threw his rifle over a fence and followed it towards the school in Bend.
Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting that panic took hold when he realised children were inside. He retrieved his gun from the centre console of his vehicle, loaded it and called 911.
“No, no, no, no,” he recalled saying. “Full panic. I was like: ‘No, there’s children, there’s babies in there!’”
He ended the call before answering all the dispatcher’s questions, telling them: “I’m sorry, but I have to go in. People are going to die.”
After John fired two shots, Giamanco crawled alongside the school’s windows. He said he heard young children “plead for their lives” before hearing further gunfire.
“I started army-crawling faster and faster,” he said. “And I told myself: ‘This is probably the last thing I’m ever going to do.’”
Giamanco followed the gunman into the building and found him struggling with a teacher. He opened the classroom door and fired at John, but said the teacher initially feared he was another attacker.
“That hurt a lot,” Giamanco said.
After the teacher left the room, he saw John reaching for his weapon and shot him twice more. “I was afraid of him shooting anybody else,” he said.
The aftermath of the Silver Rail Elementary shooting
Police said John had fired 15 rounds before he was killed. Five-year-old Rhoam Summer and teacher Megan Lambert died, along with two other pupils who have not been publicly identified.
Seven-year-old Saylor Graham and teacher Becky Drury were injured. John had previously attended Silver Rail Elementary, and his motive remains unknown.
Giamanco said he called his wife after the first police officer arrived, asking her to go immediately to the school. Earlier that day, the couple had been discussing reheating leftover tacos for his lunch.
“I called my wife to tell her I’m not coming home for tacos, and that I need her to get to the school immediately,” he said.
He told her he had killed someone and had watched children die, before calling his mother, Kenda Freeman. Giamanco became tearful as he recalled telling her he had taken the life of a child because the teenager was a danger to his daughters.
“I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life,” he said. “It’s really not how I thought my Thursday was going to go.”
Giamanco, who holds a concealed carry licence to protect his family, said he felt he had been the “last line of defence” against the gunman. His mother and people in Bend have credited him with saving the lives of many pupils.
Despite the praise, he said he was struggling with the fact that he had been unable to save the children and teacher who died.
“There is a little bit of this fear to see these families, because I do feel like I’ve failed them,” he said. “But I do want to meet them.”
John used a gun his mother had bought around his 16th birthday in August. Investigators remained unsure how he obtained the ammunition, with the inquiry described as “very active”.
Giamanco said he wanted to use the experience to bring about positive change. “I’m just a carpenter from Bend, Oregon, you know?” he said.
