A father who shot and killed the gunman during a deadly attack at an Oregon elementary school has described the final words he directed at the teenager as he brought the rampage to an end.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, was driving home for lunch on October 15 when he passed Silver Rail Elementary School, where his daughters, ages 5 and 10, are students. He saw 16-year-old Griffin J John II and realized something was wrong.
‘It was like fight or flight,’ Giamanco told CBS Mornings on Tuesday. ‘Something clicked and I analyzed the situation. I knew something was up and all the emotions fled out of me.’
Giamanco, a carpenter, said he immediately shifted into what he called ‘mission mode’ before confronting the teenage shooter.
John killed three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, along with a 25-year-old teacher during the attack.
Even after Giamanco shot him once, he said, John was still ‘struggling with his weapon’ and attempting to regain control of it.
The gunman also appeared to try to ‘say something,’ Giamanco recalled. He responded with two emphatic words.
‘F*** you,’ Giamanco remembered telling John.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, described the moments before he shot Silver Rail Elementary School gunman Griffin J John II, 16, on October 15
Giamanco said John was still ‘struggling with his weapon’ and trying to regain control after being shot once
The shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School left five people dead, including the teenage gunman, and two others injured
Giamanco said whatever John had been about to say ‘didn’t matter.’
‘I just knew that he had just taken lives of innocent little babies, 5, 8 and 11,’ Giamanco told the program.
The father called 911 before entering the school. He had been on his way to meet his wife, Kelsey, for lunch.
He said he ‘crawled’ through the building and looked through a window into the special-needs classroom, where John was carrying out the shooting.
Inside, Giamanco saw John struggling with teacher Cassidy Schutz. The confrontation created what he described as a ‘split second of having two people side-by-side.’
‘I knew that he wasn’t paying attention to me, so it gave me the opportunity to swing the door open and step in and complete my mission, so to speak,’ Giamanco said.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz previously said Schutz threw her phone at John before tackling him and fighting to take the firearm away. Giamanco arrived moments later and shot the gunman.
Schutz, 28, was not hurt. Krantz said her ‘incredible’ actions ‘almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed.’
Cassidy Schutz, a 28-year-old teacher at the school, fought with the teenage gunman before Giamanco shot him
Afterward, Giamanco made eye contact with the ‘terrified’ teacher, who initially thought he was another active shooter amid the chaos.
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‘She sprang right out of the building,’ Giamanco said. He added that she continued running after he placed his gun on the ground and approached to check on her.
‘That’s not the greatest feeling when you’re trying to go in and help but I understood,’ he said.
Giamanco said the full weight of what had happened did not hit him until police arrived and he was able to call his wife and mother.
‘I had like, chest palpitations,’ he said. ‘It was scary.’
He described feeling conflicted: his daughters were safe, but other families ‘didn’t get to hold their children that night.’
Giamanco said he was still helping his children understand the events.
‘Our 10-year-old is very intellectual, so we do have little conversations,’ he said. ‘It’s essentially like, “Hey, you know, I just did what I felt was right.”‘
He emphasized that he ‘did not want to go take a life that day,’ but wanted his children to understand that he was willing to protect them.
Megan Lambert, 25, of Bend, was also killed in the shooting carried out by John
Rhoam Summer, 5, was identified as the youngest victim of the deadly school shooting. He is pictured with his mother
Even so, Giamanco said the shooting sometimes returns to him at night, when he becomes ‘trapped’ in memories of what happened.
‘The problem for me is just closing my eyes and hearing children’s screams and what it sounds like for them to plead for their life,’ he told the outlet.
Giamanco said he had not yet returned to his carpentry job and was considering a career change after intervening in the attack.
‘I feel a need to maybe start a nonprofit for mental health and for school security for children,’ he said.
Rhoam Summer, who had started kindergarten the previous month, was the youngest of the three children killed in the elementary school shooting.
The boy’s teacher was identified as Megan Lambert, 25, of Bend. Lambert’s family said teaching at the school had been her dream job.
Two boys, ages 8 and 11, were also killed by John. Police have not released their names at the request of their families.
Educational assistant Rebecca Drury, 54, and 7-year-old Saylor Graham-Poarch were taken to a hospital with injuries.
Saylor, who uses a wheelchair, was shot in the face during John’s deadly rampage.
Police said John used a pump-action ‘long gun,’ similar to a rifle or shotgun, that had been purchased by his mother.
