The father who intervened to stop a deadly rampage at an Oregon elementary school described being haunted by the sound of young students begging for their lives as he crawled toward the active shooter. Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old local carpenter, confronted a 16-year-old gunman who opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, an attack that left three children and a teacher dead, along with two other people severely injured. Local police stated that Giamanco’s actions prevented further loss of life at the 400-student campus, and President Donald Trump subsequently praised him as a hero.
In his first interview following the incident, Giamanco recalled arriving at the school grounds while driving home for lunch on October 15. He spotted a male dressed in black firing a shotgun at a passing pickup truck and toward a worker on the property. After watching the teenager toss the firearm over a perimeter fence and scale it, Giamanco retrieved a .40-caliber handgun from his truck console, loaded a magazine, and instructed his phone to dial 911.
Informed emergency operators that he could not stay on the line to answer questions, Giamanco recalled telling dispatchers that he had to enter the building because people were going to die. Entering the campus, he heard children pleading for their lives, prompting him to army-crawl across the floor while telling himself it was likely the last thing he would ever do. Looking inside a room, he witnessed a teacher wrestling with the teenager. Giamanco opened the door and fired his weapon. The teacher fled after both dropped to the floor, but Giamanco discharged two additional rounds when the gunman scrambled to reach his weapon again, ensuring he could no longer move or threaten others.
Reflecting on the split-second decisions made amid ongoing gunfire and loss of life, Giamanco acknowledged the emotional weight of firing multiple times at a teenager. He expressed a complex perspective on the assailant, suggesting that better parenting and more love might have prevented the tragedy. When police arrived, Giamanco placed his firearm on the floor and stepped out with his hands raised before contacting his family. Although praised by law enforcement and the public, he remains overwhelmed by grief for the victims he could not protect, offering an apology to the families for not saving every child.
Giamanco, whose two daughters attend the school, credited informal training received years earlier from Iraq War veterans for enabling his rapid response. His family has temporarily relocated from their home, which overlooks the school, and his daughters will not return to the campus for some time. Unsure if he will return to his carpentry work, Giamanco stated that he hopes to advocate for enhanced security infrastructure in classrooms and use his platform to push for broader societal change.
