A father who confronted a gunman during an Oregon elementary school shooting has described, minute by minute, the terrifying moment he intervened to protect children in his first interview since the attack.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, has been praised as a hero after fatally shooting Griffin John II, 16. Authorities say John had killed three children with special needs and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend on October 15.
The day began normally for Giamanco. He woke his children, helped them get ready for school photographs and drove them to school, unaware that the morning would soon turn into a nightmare.
Several hours later, while driving home during his lunch break, Giamanco saw John firing at a red vehicle ahead of him. He then watched the teenager throw his rifle over a fence and climb after it, moving toward the school where Giamanco’s children were inside.
‘That’s when panic flooded into my brain,’ he told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).
As he reached for the gun in his center console and loaded a magazine, he said he kept repeating, ‘No, no, no, no.’ ‘Full panic. I was like: “No, there’s children, there’s babies in there!”‘
Giamanco called 911 to report that the shooter was entering the school, but ended the call before he could respond to all of the dispatcher’s questions.
‘I’m sorry, but I have to go in. People are going to die,’ he told the dispatcher.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, became emotional while recalling how he shot Griffin John II, 16, after the teenager opened fire on children with special needs at Silver Rail Elementary on October 15
Giamanco watched the shooter climb the school fence and followed him inside. He is now struggling with the knowledge that he could not save the three children who were killed
After John fired two shots, Giamanco crawled past the school’s windows. Along the way, he said, he heard young children ‘plead for their lives.’
‘And then I started hearing gunfire,’ he told OPB. ‘I started army-crawling faster and faster. And I told myself: “This is probably the last thing I’m ever going to do.”‘
He pursued the gunman into the building and saw him struggling with a teacher inside a classroom.
Giamanco pushed open the classroom door and fired at the teenager, who had previously attended Silver Rail. The teacher, startled and frightened, initially mistook Giamanco for a second shooter.
‘That hurt a lot,’ the father said.
Once the teacher escaped, Giamanco saw John reaching for his weapon. He fired twice more, telling OPB he did so to ‘make sure he couldn’t move.’
‘I was afraid of him shooting anybody else,’ he said.
The first police officer arrived soon afterward. Giamanco said he pleaded for permission to call his wife, with whom he had earlier discussed reheating leftover tacos for his lunch.
One of Giamanco’s daughters attended Silver Rail. He said seeing John climb the fence sent him into a panic, prompting him to grab his gun from the center console
John was a former student of Silver Rail Elementary. Giamanco shot the teen while he struggled with another teacher. The dad then shot him two more times to make sure he couldn’t move
‘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 his wife he had killed somebody and that he had to watch children die. After getting off the phone with his wife, he called his mother.
The father-of-two girls grew emotional as he recalled the phone call with his mother, Kenda Freeman, telling her he just took the life of a child because he was a danger to his daughters, who attended the school.
‘I broke down at that point,’ the father said, as he held back tears retelling it.
‘I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life,’ he told OPB. ‘It’s really not how I thought my Thursday was going to go.’
Giamanco told OPB that he felt like he was the ‘last line of defense’ against the shooter.
The father said he is grateful for the gratitude people have expressed to him, but admitted he is struggling with the reality of not being able to save the three children and one 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 told OPB. ‘But I do want to meet them.’
Rhoam Summer, five, was killed by John. Saylor Graham, seven, was injured
Megan Lamber was killed by John. Becky Drury was injured
Giamanco intends to use this tragic experience to make change for good – something he wouldn’t have thought he was able to do before this.
‘I’m just a carpenter from Bend, Oregon, you know?’ he said.
Freeman and the Bend community called Giamanco a hero and credited him with saving dozens of students’ lives.
Police said John fired off 15 rounds before he was killed by Giamanco. He killed five-year-old Rhoam Summer and teacher Megan Lambert. He killed two other students who have not been publicly identified.
He injured Saylor Graham, seven, and teacher Becky Drury.
John used a gun his mother had purchased around his 16th birthday in August. Law enforcement remained unsure as to how John obtained his ammunition, saying the investigation was ‘very active.’
His motive is currently unknown.
Giamanco holds a concealed carry license to protect his family, his mother said.
