Key takeaways:
- Three children, ages five, eight and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher were killed at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend.
- Police said a teacher tackled the 16-year-old suspect before Kaylub Giamanco entered the school and fatally shot him.
- Police said the suspect fired as many as 15 rounds in a classroom; his motive and how he acquired the shotgun remain under investigation.
An Oregon teacher tackled a teenage gunman inside an elementary school classroom Thursday before a father with two daughters at the school shot and killed the suspect, police said. The attack at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend killed three children and a teacher and injured two others.
At a Friday news conference, police identified the suspect as Griffin J. John II, 16, a former student at the school. They identified two of the people killed as five-year-old Rhoam Summer and 25-year-old teacher Meghan Lambert. The families of the other two children, ages eight and 11, did not yet want their names released, police said.
The injured were a seven-year-old student, who was in serious but stable condition, and a 54-year-old teacher who remained in hospital.
Police said the gunman fired outside the school and shot through a window to enter. Inside a special educational needs classroom, a teacher threw her mobile phone, tackled him and tried to wrestle away his shotgun. While they struggled on the floor, a man who had been driving past the school entered with a.40-caliber pistol and fired at the suspect multiple times, killing him. The teacher who fought the gunman was not hurt.
The man’s family identified him as Kaylub Giamanco, a lifelong Bend resident with two daughters at the school. Police have not publicly named him. According to the BBC, Giamanco’s brother said the 36-year-old carpenter had just finished lunch and was driving home when he saw the suspect fire at a vehicle, then enter the school. Police said Giamanco had a legally concealed pistol in his vehicle.
“He is not seeking recognition,” Giamanco’s family said in a statement. The family said he was grateful to first responders, school personnel and the community for their support, and asked for privacy.
Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said the teacher and Giamanco had saved lives. The teacher’s intervention “almost certainly helped prevent more bloodshed,” he said. “To the people who showed courage in the face of such violence, and intervened to prevent this tragedy from being any worse, we owe you a debt of gratitude.”
Police said the suspect fired as many as 15 shotgun rounds in the classroom and had about 44 more rounds of ammunition when he was stopped. Investigators have searched his home. They believe he traveled to the school on foot but are still examining his movements, how he acquired the gun and his motive. The Guardian, citing the Associated Press, reported that the pump-action shotgun had been purchased by his mother.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek praised the man who intervened while acknowledging the toll of his actions. “Your actions carry a heavy emotional burden, and I just want you to know that my thoughts are with you as well,” she said.
President Donald Trump called the bystander a “great hero” on Friday and said the attack could have been “much worse” without his intervention. “It’s a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it,” Trump said.
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