A father who risked his life to stop a deadly elementary school shooting in Oregon has broken his silence, revealing how an ordinary lunch break turned into a terrifying confrontation with a teenage gunman — and why the lives he couldn’t save continue to haunt him.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, is being hailed as a hero after confronting and fatally shooting the 16-year-old attacker who opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on October 15. The tragedy claimed the lives of three children and a young teacher, while two others were seriously injured.
Now, in an emotional interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, the father of two has described the frightening decisions he made in a matter of minutes, including the moment he feared he might never see his family again.
What makes his story even more extraordinary is that Giamanco wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the school that afternoon.
The carpenter had spent the morning working at a job site outside Bend and originally planned to eat the lunch he had packed in his truck. Instead, he made a last-minute decision to head home after remembering the leftover tacos he and his wife had enjoyed the night before.
That seemingly insignificant change of plans would put him in the path of a gunman approaching the very school where he had dropped off his two young daughters earlier that morning.
As Giamanco drove along Brentwood Avenue, just blocks from his house, he noticed a man dressed in black carrying what appeared to be a firearm. At first, he wondered whether it might be some kind of prank. Then the stranger opened fire toward a pickup truck and a nearby field where a woman was mowing.
Within seconds, Giamanco watched the armed individual throw his weapon over a school fence and climb after it.
The horrifying realization of what was unfolding sent him into a panic.
“I just was in full panic,” he recalled, explaining that his immediate thoughts turned to the young children inside the building.
Giamanco retrieved his handgun, which police later confirmed had been legally secured in his vehicle, and drove into the school parking lot. He called 911 to report the emergency but quickly became convinced that there was no time to lose.
“I’m sorry, I have to go in. People are going to die,” he told the dispatcher.
What followed was a desperate race to reach the gunman before more lives were lost.
As Giamanco approached the building, the attacker used his shotgun to force his way through locked exterior doors. The father followed, attempting to remain out of sight as he moved toward the sound of gunfire.
Inside, the situation was even more frightening than he had imagined. He could hear children crying for help as shots rang out from a classroom.
Convinced he might be making the final decision of his life, Giamanco continued forward.
When he reached the classroom, he witnessed something remarkable. An unarmed teacher was physically struggling with the shooter, desperately attempting to stop him.
According to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz, the teacher had thrown her cellphone at the attacker before tackling him and fighting to take away his weapon.
That courageous intervention may have prevented additional casualties.
Giamanco saw an opportunity to act while the gunman was distracted. He entered the classroom and fired his handgun, striking the teenager multiple times. The teacher escaped the immediate confrontation, and the attacker died at the scene.
Police later identified the shooter as Griffin J. John II, a 16-year-old former student at the elementary school.
The entire attack unfolded in just minutes. Authorities received the first emergency call shortly before 1 p.m., and responding police officers arrived at approximately 1:02 p.m., moments before learning that the gunman had been stopped.
Despite the intervention, four people had already lost their lives.
Among those killed was 25-year-old teacher Megan Lambert, whose family said working with children with special needs had been her dream job. Five-year-old Rhoam Summer also died, along with two boys, ages 8 and 11, whose families requested that their names remain private.
A 7-year-old girl and 54-year-old teacher Becky Drury were also seriously injured.
Authorities credited both Giamanco and the teacher who fought the attacker with preventing an even greater loss of life.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek publicly recognized the father’s actions, while Chief Krantz expressed his gratitude for the extraordinary courage shown during the emergency.
But Giamanco has struggled to accept the praise.
Although many people now regard him as a hero, he says the tragedy continues to replay in his mind. Rather than focusing on the lives he may have saved, he thinks about the children who never made it home and the families facing unimaginable grief.
“I want to apologize for not saving their babies,” he told OPB.
The father also made it clear that he does not consider himself the only hero that day. He expressed tremendous admiration for the teacher who confronted the armed teenager without a weapon of her own, describing her courage as something he will never forget.
For Giamanco, the experience has also raised difficult questions about the future. He has discussed turning the public attention surrounding his actions into an effort to improve school safety, including exploring fundraising opportunities to help schools strengthen their security.
Meanwhile, investigators continue examining the circumstances surrounding the shooting, including how the teenager obtained the shotgun and what motivated the attack.
Silver Rail Elementary has remained closed while the district works on repairing the building and developing a plan for students to return.
For a community still grieving, Giamanco’s intervention has become a powerful example of courage in the face of danger. Yet for the father whose ordinary lunch plans placed him at the center of a national tragedy, the memories are far more complicated than the word “hero” can capture.
He went to work that morning expecting an ordinary day. By lunchtime, he had faced a gunman inside his daughters’ school, helped stop a deadly attack, and witnessed a tragedy that he knows will remain with him for the rest of his life.
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