Kaylub Giamanco has described how he fatally shot a gunman during the Bend school shooting after seeing the teenager enter Silver Rail Elementary School, where his two daughters were pupils.
The 36-year-old carpenter said he had been driving past the Oregon school after deciding to return home for lunch rather than eat the food he had packed. He saw a man dressed in black firing a long gun at a vehicle.
Giamanco initially thought the incident might be a prank. But when the gunman threw the weapon over the school fence and climbed after it, he realised the danger was real.
“That’s when panic fled into my brain and that’s when I opened my centre console and said, ‘No. No. No. No,’” he recalled.
He took a .40-calibre handgun from his truck, retrieved its magazine from another compartment and drove into the school car park. As the gunman crossed the grounds, Giamanco told Siri to call 911.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,’” he said.
Giamanco said he followed the gunman while trying to remain out of sight. He heard two shots fired into the school doors, followed by children pleading for their lives and further gunfire.
“I just started army crawling faster and faster and I told myself this is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do,” he said.
He entered through a broken window and crawled towards a special education classroom, where he said he saw a teacher struggling with the attacker. Giamanco opened the door and fired, then shot twice more when he believed the gunman was reaching for his weapon.
“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,” he said.
Police identified the attacker as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II. Three children, aged five, eight and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed. A seven-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher were wounded.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek praised Giamanco for having “heroically intervened to stop further loss of life”. Police Chief Mike Krantz also credited the teacher who tackled the gunman and fought for control of his weapon.
Giamanco says he relives the school shooting
After first responders arrived, Giamanco returned to his truck, emptied his gun and telephoned his wife and mother. His mother, Kenda Freeman, told him to calm down and said he had done the right thing.
But Giamanco rejected the description of himself as a hero. “I didn’t save everybody. I didn’t get them all,” he recalled telling her.
A week after the attack, he said he continued to replay the events at night. “I relive, I see faces, I hear voices, I hear screams,” he said.
He became emotional while speaking about the families who lost children. “I want to apologize for not saving their babies,” he said. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome, but there were ones that I didn’t save.”
Giamanco had initially avoided the attention, issuing a brief statement thanking first responders and the local community. He said he had now decided to speak publicly because he wanted to use his experience to help make the world a better place.
He also said he hoped to help raise funds for local schools to improve their safety.
