Meghan Lambert, a beloved 25-year-old teacher who coached youth volleyball in her spare time, has been identified as the educator killed in Thursday’s shooting at an Oregon elementary school.
Lambert, who was from Bend, died inside her classroom after 16-year-old Griffin John II opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon.
Three children, ages five, eight and 11, were also killed in the attack at the school where the teenager had once been a student.
In a statement released Friday, Lambert’s family remembered her as someone who was deeply passionate about sports and determined to build a career in education.
They described her as compassionate, big-hearted and the kind of person who could “light up the room.”
Lambert’s commitment to children was reflected in her work as a volleyball coach. During her first season, she declined payment so families who could not afford the fees would still have the opportunity to play the sport she loved, her family said.
Her relatives also described Lambert as funny and outspoken, saying she consistently stood up for people who were overlooked, including those with special needs.
“Meg loved those children,” her family said.
Meghan Lambert of Bend was the teacher killed in Thursday’s Oregon school shooting. Bend police said Friday that the other child victims would not be identified at this time out of respect for their families.
Lambert had hoped to become an educator in the school district where she had grown up and which she “loved,” according to her family.
Silver Rail Elementary was her first full-time teaching position, although she had worked there as a substitute teacher for many years, her family said.
“This was her dream job,” the statement said.
Lambert graduated from Boise State University in 2023 after completing high school at Mountain View High School as part of its class of 2019.
“She was an incredible sister, daughter, niece and granddaughter,” her family said. “Her friends became her family.”
The shooting also left a 54-year-old teacher critically injured. A seven-year-old child who uses a wheelchair was shot in the face, and both victims remained hospitalized.
Police said the teenager fired as many as 15 rounds during the attack and still had 44 rounds remaining when he was fatally shot.
Authorities said John targeted a special education classroom where he had been a student when he attended Silver Rail Elementary as a young child.
Police said he appeared determined to reach the former classroom. After being fired upon while attempting to enter through the front doors, he reportedly went around to the back entrance.
Griffin John II, 16, is accused of killing three children, ages five, eight and 11, at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday. He is pictured with his mother, Shauntai Nickerson.
Rhoam Summer, left, has been identified as one of the shooting victims. He is pictured with his mother.
John , who was not enrolled in a Bend public school at the time, traveled to Silver Rail Elementary on foot. The route is being investigated.
He first threw the Maverick 88 12-gauge pump-action shotgun over the fence before jumping over, but found himself blocked from entering.
John was fired upon by hero dad Kalub Giamanco, who would later shoot the teen dead, and blocked by another bystander’s van that he riddled with bullets.
Instead of giving up, he ran to the back entrance and blasted his way through a ‘safety vestibule’ system designed to keep children at the school safe from school shooters.
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The school resource officer was not at the school at the time of the shooting, authorities said. They said the officer oversees around six other buildings and was at a nearby school.
Police were unsure how John was able to get his ammunition, stating the investigation was still ‘very active.’
Five weeks before he went on his shooting rampage, the teenage mass killer stared at a camera with a murderous gaze.
John was gangly with a patchy mustache and goatee and looked sullen in a haunting photo posted by his mother Shauntai Nickerson last month.
Griffin was shot dead minutes after he began his rampage by Kalub Giamanco, 36, (pictured) a dad of two children at the school who heard the gunshots as he drove home for his lunch break
Giamanco’s wife Kelsey (center) confirmed he was the hero who intervened by running inside the school. The couple have two children at Silver Rail Elementary School
Nickerson told a TV station in 2020 that she was pleased students were going back to the classroom as her son was struggling with distance learning during Covid lockdowns.
‘I think it will be great for Griffin, because I am not certified teaching a special needs student,’ she told KTVZ 21.
‘And I think it will be great for my son to get the help that he needs from the skilled teachers that he needs to get it from.’
The future murderer was in the NEST (Nurturing Empathy Safety and Trust) program, which helped special education students ‘experiencing intensive behavioral and social skills challenges’.
The first victim of the shooting was named as five-year-old Rhoam Summer.
Summer’s teacher was identified as 25-year-old Meghan Lambert, while the other child victims will not be named at this time out of respect for the victims’ families, Bend police said at a press conference on Friday.
John used his mother’s shotgun to carry out the massacre, which police said was bought about the time of his 16th birthday.
Nickerson, 43, a medical aide at Touchmark Living Centers, has a long list of traffic violations and was charged with DUI at 1.37am on July 29, 2018, by local police in Bend.
She was also convicted of harassment in 2023 with a second charge of fourth-degree assault from the same incident dismissed.
Silver Lake Elementary School in Bend is pictured on Friday afternoon in the wake of Thursday’s mass shooting that killed three young students and a teacher
Nickerson insisted to reporters who confronted her outside her home in Bend that her son was ‘a good boy’ and she would have stopped him if she could.
John II’s motive is unknown, but he attended the school as a child before moving on to the local high school.
Police raided John II’s family home on Thursday night, seizing computers and other electronic devices. Family was said to be cooperative.
John II was shot dead minutes after he began his rampage by Kalub Giamanco, 36, a dad of two children at the school who heard the gunshots as he drove home for his lunch break.
Giamanco’s wife Kelsey and brother Kyle, along with several of his friends, confirmed he was the hero who intervened by running inside the school.
He holds a concealed carry permit and is friends with the family of the seven-year-old in the wheelchair who was wounded.
Giamanco shot John II dead within moments of the massacre beginning just before 1pm on Thursday.
