An armed father who rushed into Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, and shot dead a 16-year-old gunman is being hailed as a hero after a school shooting on Thursday left four people dead and two critically wounded. Police say the father's intervention likely prevented further casualties in what has become the latest case of an armed civilian confronting a mass shooter in the United States.
What happened at Silver Rail Elementary
The attack began at about 12:58 p.m. local time on Thursday, October 15, when 16-year-old Griffin J. John II — identified by Bend Police at a Friday press conference as a former special-education student of the school — threw his shotgun over the school fence and climbed in. According to police, he fired at least three shots at a red pickup truck whose driver verbally confronted him, shattering its rear window; that driver then called 911.
The gunman then shot through the glass of the school's locked entry doors and entered a special-education classroom, firing up to 15 times. He carried about 44 rounds of ammunition. The weapon was a Maverick 88 12-gauge pump-action shotgun registered in his mother's name — bought by his mother around his 16th birthday in August, though Oregon's minimum purchase age for a rifle or shotgun is 18.
Before police arrived, a teacher confronted the shooter — throwing her cellphone at him, tackling him and trying to disarm him, according to Reuters. Police Chief Mike Krantz said: "She threw herself on top of the suspect and tackled him." Moments later, Kaylub Giamanco — a 36-year-old carpenter and lifelong Bend resident whose two daughters attend the school — parked in the school lot, grabbed his .40-caliber pistol that had been legally stored in his car, and followed the gunman inside. Seeing the teacher fighting with the shooter, Giamanco fired multiple times, killing the teen. Officers entered at 1:02 p.m. — within three minutes of the 911 calls — and found the gunman already dead. Krantz confirmed: "An officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him into the school and engaged him."
The victims and the response
Three students — all boys, ages 5, 8 and 11 — and 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert were killed. The 5-year-old was identified as Rhoam Summer, a kindergartner; his father Kelik Summer wrote: "Today has been the worst day of my life … My son Rhoam was killed in a school shooting." The families of the 8- and 11-year-olds asked that their names not be released. Lambert's family said Silver Rail was her "dream job" and that "Megan loved those children." A 7-year-old student and 54-year-old education assistant Rebecca "Becky" Drury were critically wounded and taken to St. Charles Medical Center.
President Donald Trump praised Giamanco at the White House on Friday: "It's a terrible thing, but thank goodness for a man that had a gun and knew how to use it." Oregon Governor Tina Kotek addressed the father directly: "To the community member who heroically intervened to stop further loss of life, your actions carry a heavy emotional burden." Giamanco's mother, Kenda Freeman, said her son "is not seeking recognition" and asked for privacy for his two daughters.
The latest in a growing pattern
The AP framed Giamanco as the latest armed civilian to confront a gunman in a US mass shooting. Data from the ALERRT center at Texas State University, which tracked "active attack" incidents from 2000 to 2025, found 634 cases studied — 374 ended before police arrived, and of those, 29 ended when armed civilians shot the attacker while 31 more were subdued by civilians by other means.
Recent precedents include the 2019 White Settlement, Texas church shooting, where 71-year-old firearms instructor Jack Wilson killed a gunman with a single shot during a Sunday service, and the 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas church attack, where Stephen Willeford opened fire on the shooter and chased him down.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Associated Press · USA Today · Statesman Journal · Reuters via Times of India